What You Already Know Pt 3: Chimera: Gen Version
by MaureenT
Summary: Dreams of his past with Sarah have been plaguing Daniel, dreams that may ultimately lead to a confrontation that could rob him of more than his life. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**What You Already Know Part 3: Chimera (Gen Version)**

**Author:** MaureenT  
**Rating:** T  
**Categories:** Action/Adventure, Angst, Hurt/Comfort  
**Content Warning:** Mild Profanity, Violence  
**Spoilers:** Enigma, Need, The Fifth Race, Serpent's Song, A Hundred Days, The Other Side, Scorched Earth, The Curse, The Fifth Man, Summit, Last Stand, Meridian, Unnatural Selection, Metamorphosis, Prophecy, Homecoming, Orpheus, Grace, Fallout, Chimera

**Author's Notes:** This is the third story in a 7-part AU series covering many of the events of the latter half of the 7th season and beyond. **It is strongly recommended that you read the previous fanfics in this series first.**

* * *

CHAPTER ONE

Jonas Quinn walked slowly through the complex that, for the most exciting year of his life, was his home, his place of work, and his refuge from a world and a people who had branded him a traitor. He would be going back to that world in about an hour, and he had to admit that he wasn't completely happy about it. When he left the SGC to begin his new job on Kelowna as a diplomat, he had believed it was what he wanted. He had missed his home, family and friends. But now, after months of dealing with the never-ending squabbling, paranoia and mud-slinging that went on between the leaders of his planet, Jonas was wishing that he'd stayed with the SGC. At least for right now, the squabbling had stopped. Jonas didn't know what Jack had said to them, but, whatever it was, it had significantly altered the attitudes of First Minister Dreylock, Vin Eremal and Lucia Tarthus.

As Jonas passed the office that used to be his and was now, once again, Daniel Jackson's, he glanced inside. What he saw made him freeze in his tracks, mouth dropping open. One of the heavy bookcases in the room was sliding across the floor, seemingly under its own power. Jonas stepped closer to the door and saw Daniel standing before the bookcase, his attention focused on it.

"Daniel?"

The archeologist started violently. At the same time, the bookcase jumped up off the floor an inch or two, books toppling off the shelves, then came back down, tilting backwards.

"Crap!" Daniel swore. Jonas then watched as the falling bookcase halted in place and slowly straightened itself. Daniel turned to the Kelownan with an embarrassed smile. "Hey, Jonas."

"Uhhhh . . . hi." Jonas dragged his eyes from the bookcase. "Daniel, what's going on?"

Daniel glanced at the bookcase sheepishly. "Oh, um, yeah. I guess I need to explain a few things, huh."

"I'd say so."

"Come on in and take a seat."

Jonas did so, watching as Daniel gathered up the books that had fallen and placed them on his worktable. The archeologist then settled in the chair behind his desk.

"Daniel, were you . . . moving that bookcase?" the Kelownan asked.

Daniel looked straight at him. "Yes."

"How?"

"Oh, that's a very long story. Do you have the time?"

"Well, since I definitely don't want to leave until I've heard it, I'll make the time."

Daniel gave him a short nod. Then he proceeded to tell Jonas a story that left the Kelownan reeling in shock. Sitting before him was a man who could now blow up an Al'Kesh and lift a Stargate with the power of his mind. It was unbelievable. And, on top of that, Daniel had gained the power to see the future, something with which Jonas had personal experience.

"Needless to say, it's all been a bit overwhelming," Daniel concluded.

Jonas laughed. "I bet." He glanced at the bookcase. "So, what was up with that?"

"Oh, um, something fell behind it, and I couldn't get the thing out. I didn't want to bother anyone about it, so. . . ." Daniel waved his hand.

"So, you decided to move it yourself."

"Yes. Whatever you do, don't tell Janet. She'll skin me alive. I'm not supposed to use my abilities except when absolutely necessary."

Jonas smiled. "I won't tell a soul. Do you get a headache from moving something like that?"

"No, it's not nearly heavy enough to cause a problem. Now, lifting a Stargate is another matter entirely."

"I can imagine so." Jonas paused. "So, you can see the future."

"On occasion."

"You've seen things several weeks before they happened?"

"The vision I had of Sam's death came a little over two weeks before the event took place."

"None of my visions were of things that took place more than a few hours in the future."

Daniel fell silent. "How did you react to having that kind of power?"

"Well, I was shocked at first, but then I was kind of happy about it."

Daniel's expression showed his surprise. "You were?"

"Yes. I thought that it would be a tremendous help to the SGC. I was thinking about how it could be used to help defeat the Goa'uld." Jonas studied Daniel's expression. "What about you? Are you happy about these powers?"

"No," Daniel answered.

"Why not?"

"Because it's too much. Because the thought that I could kill dozens, perhaps even hundreds of people just by willing it is absolutely horrifying. Because I'm afraid that. . . ." Daniel paused. "Well, there are lots of reasons."

Jonas pondered Daniel's words. "I didn't consider that. I suppose that, if I was in your shoes, I might feel the same, although I guess it would all depend."

"On what?"

"On whether or not I thought it was worth it. I mean, let's face it, Daniel. This power could be of tremendous use against the Goa'uld. When I developed the ability to see the future, I didn't want to lose it even though I was risking my life by not letting Doctor Fraiser operate right away. I thought it was worth the risk because of the help I could give the SGC."

Daniel thought about that. "That is a good point, and, if it was only my life that was threatened by this, I'd probably look at it that way. But this isn't about the danger to me."

"You're worried that you might hurt someone by accident?"

"Yeah. The very first time I used these abilities on a mission, I accidentally killed six Jaffa. Since then, I've learned how to control them better, but . . . I had a little accident a while back, which made it all too clear that, though I may _think_ I have complete control, it's really just an illusion. Another accident could happen, and, next time, someone could get hurt or even killed."

Jonas thought about what Daniel was saying, and it made him realize something. If he was the one who had those abilities, he'd probably be thrilled, not because he'd delight in the power itself, but because of all the things he could do to help the SGC and fight the Goa'uld. Yes, he would be worried about accidentally hurting someone, but it would be overridden by his eagerness to use the power for good. But Daniel was different. Throughout all the years that he'd been with the SGC, the thing that mattered most to him was that the innocent be protected from harm. Jonas had seen that many times while reading past mission reports, like when Daniel risked his job and perhaps even a jail sentence to help the Tollans escape even though their technology could have been used to help fight the Goa'uld. He did it again when he returned to Shyla's planet to help the miners after his horrifying experience with sarcophagus addition. There was the time that he went up against Jack and everyone else by arguing against the trade that the SGC wanted to make with the Eurondans because he was concerned about who was on the other side of the war. And, just a few months later, he risked his life to save the Gadmeer. And Jonas would never forget the sacrifice the archeologist made for the people of Kelowna.

Now, Daniel had these incredible abilities that could be used as a powerful weapon against the Goa'uld, but the thing that was foremost in his mind was the innocent people who could accidentally be hurt by them.

This was one of the ways in which Jonas could not take Daniel's place when he had the man's position on SG-1. Daniel was a crusader for what was morally right, an advocate for all those who needed help or who could be harmed by the SGC's actions. If he had been on the team when they tangled with the human-form Replicators, he would never have allowed Fifth to be betrayed like that. Or, at the very least, he'd have fought Jack tooth and nail over it.

Looking at Daniel, the man who was both his predecessor and his successor, Jonas knew that it was time to talk about some things, stuff that he needed to say.

Jonas got to his feet, too restless now to remain seated. He wandered over to the worktable and picked up one of the books. Staring down at it, he began. "When I refused to let Doctor Fraiser remove the mass in my brain, she guessed that it was because I felt like I still needed to prove myself and my value to the program. She was partially right." Jonas' eyes met Daniel's. "For that whole year that I was here, I lived in your shadow. You were this . . . incredible legend at the SGC, the man who opened the Stargate, who was instrumental in saving not only Earth, but many other cultures and peoples. You were the guy whose brilliance was respected by virtually every scientist on base, whose courage, determination and willingness to sacrifice himself impressed even the Marines, and whose code of ethics was so strong that he'd fight anyone and everyone for what was right."

"Jonas. . . ." Daniel began.

"No. Please let me finish. In addition to that, you were the man his former teammates cared about so much that, for the entire year I was working with them, I never stopped sensing the hole that your loss made in their lives. They all loved you, and I knew that I would never mean the same thing to them."

Daniel was staring at the desktop, clearly upset.

"And I was the one responsible for them losing you," Jonas stated softly.

Daniel's head shot up. "No, Jonas. It wasn't your fault. You weren't the one who ordered that Naquadria bomb to be built."

"No, I wasn't, but I _was_ the one who cowardly stood by and did nothing as you sacrificed your life for a planet that wasn't even yours."

"You were a scientist and a political advisor. You weren't trained to act under extreme, life-threatening situations."

Jonas shook his head. "That's no excuse, Daniel. It should have been me who went through that window and disabled the bomb, and I lived a year with that guilt as a daily part of my life."

Daniel's eyes returned to his desk, not knowing what to say.

"What you said to me on Anubis' ship was right," Jonas continued. "I joined SG-1 because I felt guilty about what happened to you, and I thought that I could make up for it by finishing your work. And that's what I attempted to do. I tried to atone for what I'd done, to continue what you started and make myself as useful as I possibly could. But I couldn't replace you, Daniel, because I'm not you. You're too . . . unique, irreplaceable. I could not be everything that you are, and I could not give to the SGC all the things that you did. That was especially true in regards to Colonel O'Neill, Sam and Teal'c. When we found you alive and human again on Vis Uban, I was so relieved. It was like this huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. From that moment, I knew that my position on SG-1 would be coming to an end, that I had been only acting as a . . . a placeholder for you."

Daniel looked up at him. "Do you regret leaving?"

"Yes, sometimes. I miss going through the Stargate."

Daniel smiled faintly. "Well, considering what you have to deal with back on Kelowna, I'm not surprised. I think I'd take life-threatening danger over one of those council meetings any day of the week."

Jonas smiled. "You're right there. Although, whatever it is that Colonel O'Neill said to them, it's made them a little bit more cooperative."

"Yeah. Let's hope it lasts." Daniel got to his feet and walked up to the Kelownan. "Jonas, I want you to know that I never blamed you for what happened. It was my choice to do what I did, and, if I had to do it all over again, I'd make the same decision."

Jonas held out his hand to Daniel, who shook it firmly. "Goodbye, Daniel. I hope that everything works out well for you."

"You, too, Jonas. And if you ever decide to come back to the SGC, I'm sure that there will be a place for you."

"Thanks."

Jonas walked out of the office with a smile on his face, happy that he'd unburdened his soul to the man to whom he would always owe a debt.

* * *

Daniel closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead tiredly. He hadn't gotten a very restful sleep last night, odd dreams about Sarah plaguing him all night. The dreams had been about when he first met her, but, strangely, he had looked like he did now, not the way he did all those years ago. His hair, his face, everything was present day. Sarah, too, looked around the age she did when Daniel saw her last, not the much younger woman she was when he first got to know her.

Daniel poured himself another cup of coffee and returned to his seat, glad that there was nothing big going on right now. Since the whole incident with Kelowna, correction, _Langara_, things had been pretty quiet. He had welcomed the days of peace and quiet. After everything that had been happening in his life, a bit of tranquility was just what he needed. He didn't fool himself into thinking it would last long, however. It never did.

Just then, Jack came in.

"Hey, Jack. What's up?" Daniel asked, stifling a yawn.

"I wanted to know what time you were planning on coming over tonight."

"Oh. Um, I'm going to pass tonight, Jack. I didn't sleep very well last night, so I'm just going to go to bed early."

"Is this something I need to know about?"

"No, I just had a restless night, lots of dreams. _Ordinary_ dreams. No visions of the future."

"Well, that's good. I think we've all had enough of those for a while. So, everything else is okay?"

"Yes, Jack. Go be someone else's mother hen."

"Nobody else needs me to be their mother hen."

"So, I'm the only lucky one?" Daniel asked sarcastically.

"Yep."

"Then consider yourself chickless, Jack. This one's flying the coop."

A slight smile curved the colonel's lips. "See you later, Daniel."

Once Jack had left, Daniel got back to work. He was interrupted again a short while later, only, this time, his visitor was not a welcome one.

"Good morning, Doctor Jackson," said Major Rice.

"What do you want, Major?" Daniel asked bluntly, deciding that there was no good reason to be polite to the man who had planned on experimenting on him like a lab rat and forcing him to work for the NID.

"I'm here about a serious concern. It has come to my attention that your loyalty to Earth and the SGC has come into question."

Daniel's brow knit. "Excuse me?"

"Several weeks ago, you had every intention of abandoning your duty to Earth and the SGC and giving your services to the Tok'ra."

Daniel stared at him, feeling his anger starting to kindle. "I don't know how you found out about that, but I planned on making that offer in exchange for a Tok'ra ship to be sent out to look for the Prometheus."

"Yes, I am aware of that. It does not change the fact that you were going to skip out on Earth and go to work for the Tok'ra, who have proven themselves to be unreliable allies at best, a hindrance to how we do things at worst."

Daniel glared at the man. "Look, I don't know where you're going with all this, but let me make two things clear. First of all, I had no intention of abandoning Earth or the SGC. Though I was going to offer the Tok'ra my services, it would have been under the condition that it would not interfere with missions scheduled for SG-1. I wasn't planning on going off and living with them. I'd still have been here, doing my job most of the time. Secondly, though the Tok'ra do things differently from us and have, at times, not given us information we could have used, they have still been a valuable ally and have helped save quite a few human lives."

"Nevertheless, your intentions have made me and several other people begin to wonder where your loyalties lie. This is not the first time that you've chosen to help aliens instead of doing what was good for Earth."

Daniel had just about had enough of this. "Spit it out, Rice. Why are you really here?"

"To _suggest_ that you reconsider coming to work for the NID. If you come work for us, all these concerns about your loyalty might disappear."

Daniel's anger escalated dramatically. It was bad enough to be accused of being disloyal to Earth, but this really was the last straw. "I think you had better leave, Major Rice," he said.

"Doctor Jackson. . . ."

Daniel slowly got to his feet. "I asked you to leave. If you thought that you could come in here and blackmail me, you were sadly mistaken. I wonder what General Hammond and the president would think if they found out about this. I don't think they'd be very happy. Do you?"

"Don't threaten me, Doctor Jackson."

"Why not? Isn't that what you just did? Actually, if what you're accusing me of really was true, then you coming here and confronting me wouldn't have been very bright."

Rice glared at him. "And why is that?"

"Well, think about it. If you honestly believed that I have no loyalty to Earth, then, by extension, you'd have to believe that I would do whatever was necessary to serve my own purposes. If that was true, then it would be in my best interest to make sure that you didn't cause me any more problems. And, as we both know, it would be extremely easy for me to do that."

Rice stared at him, mouth hanging open, the tiniest hint of fear in his eyes. The fear was quickly replaced by anger. "You're bluffing," he said.

"No, I'm not, Major. I never said that I'd do something like that. I said that, if I really was disloyal to Earth, as you claim, then I wouldn't hesitate to get rid of you. But, since I'm _not_ that kind of person, as you well know, you don't have to worry. However, I _will_ report this to General Hammond if you ever try something like this again or if you cause any trouble for me. Now, please leave my office. I may not kill you, but that doesn't mean that I won't throw you out."

"This isn't over, Jackson. You have no proof of what I just said, and I will deny it if you tell General Hammond. I, on the other hand, have plenty of proof for my allegations. Sooner or later, you will come to work for the NID or you will be fired."

Turning, Rice strode out of the room.

Infuriated, Daniel paced around his office. He couldn't help but wonder if there was some truth to Rice's statement. Not the part about Daniel being disloyal to Earth and the SGC. It was the other part he wondered about, the last thing that the man had said. Could Rice really make people believe that Daniel's loyalty couldn't be trusted?

Daniel remembered his first encounter with Colonel Simmons, when all the members of SG-1 were basically brainwashed into believing that there was a fifth man on their team, when, in fact, the so-called fifth man was an alien. Simmons had virtually accused Daniel of being sympathetic toward the Goa'uld. Now, Major Rice comes along and accuses him of being more interested in helping aliens than helping Earth. Simmons' accusations never resulted in anything. Would Rice's?

Deciding that he needed to work off some steam, Daniel went to the gym. Not paying any attention to how much weight was on the barbell, Daniel reclined on the bench and grabbed hold of the bar. When he began to lift, some part of his mind registered that the barbell was extremely heavy, but he paid no attention to it. He just tried harder. He succeeded in lifting the bar off the rack and began a set of bench presses. After a while, he decided that it wasn't enough weight and slammed on two fifteen-pounders, still not paying attention to what he was doing. Five more reps and he was adding yet another thirty pounds. When ten more reps still didn't have him breaking out in a sweat, he sat up in frustration. And that's when he noticed something. Every person in the gym was gaping at him with open-mouthed surprise. Not understanding the reason, Daniel glanced at the barbell – and nearly fell off the bench. Okay, that was . . . not possible.

The part of Daniel's brain that was not reeling in shock deduced that Teal'c must have been the last person to use the barbell and had not removed the additional weight he usually put on it . . . and Daniel had just added an additional sixty pounds.

Daniel tried to figure out how on Earth he had managed to lift that much weight. He could not be that strong . . . not _physically_, that is. There could be only one explanation. He had just unwittingly supplemented his physical strength with his psychic abilities. That realization sent Daniel's mind spinning again. What if he was in a hand-to-hand combat workout with someone and this happened again?

Suddenly deciding that working out in the gym was not such a good idea after all, Daniel hurried to the locker room, trying to ignore the way that everyone was still staring at him. After changing back into his BDUs, he returned to his office, determined to get some work done.

It wasn't until he sat down at his desk that Daniel thought of something. He'd been furious with Rice, yet there had been no repeat of the incident that happened with Jack. Maybe Janet was right. Perhaps the exhaustion _had_ been a big contributing factor.

Hoping that was true, Daniel got back to work. 


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

Lunchtime came and went before Daniel even realized it. Though he wasn't really hungry, he decided to go see if Sam wanted to grab a bite to eat. Despite his lingering anger, he was starting to get really tired again. Unfortunately, his coffee pot was empty, and he'd just used the last of the coffee he had in his office. He'd have to hunt down some more. Maybe Sam would have some.

"Hey, there," he greeted as he walked in the door of Sam's office. He glanced over at the coffee machine and was disappointed to see that the pot was as empty as his had been. So much for that. Oh, well. They had coffee down in the commissary. It wasn't nearly as good as the coffee he made, but it still had caffeine. "You ready for some lunch?"

"Sorry, I can't right now," Sam told him. "In fact, you caught me on the way out."

"So, what is it that you're working on?" Daniel asked as Sam got to her feet and headed for the door.

"It's a new jamming device. It jams the frequencies the Goa'uld use for communication and the remote control devices like the ring transporters. Right now, we're working on making it portable enough to. . . ." Sam's voice trailed off as Daniel gave a huge yawn. "At least pretend that it's interesting," she said, a little irritated.

"No, it was very interesting," Daniel insisted. "Please, go on."

Sam studied his face. "Are you tired?"

"Ya think? I had the weirdest dream last night."

Sam looked at him sharply. "You had a dream?"

"No, not one of those kinds of dreams," Daniel hastily assured her. "There is nothing prophetic about these. Just the opposite, in fact. They're about something that happened in the past, about Sarah, when I was working with her back in Chicago, before the Stargate Program. But it was kind of weird."

"How so?"

"Things were all mixed up," Daniel replied. "For one thing, I looked like I do now rather than the way I did back then."

"Well, no offense, Daniel, but it's not like you don't have some issues to work out regarding her."

"Oh, yeah. I can definitely say that."

"Maybe you should talk to someone."

Daniel smiled. "I thought I was."

Sam returned the smile.

They had just reached the elevator. The doors opened, revealing Jack within.

"Colonel," Sam greeted.

"Carter."

Daniel yawned again and pointed down the hall. "Coffee."

"Talk to you later, okay?" Sam said to him.

Daniel nodded and headed over to Bill Lee's office, where he got himself a cup of coffee and chatted with the man for a while. Feeling a little bit more alert, he returned to his office. He'd been there for only a short while when Jack came in, making Daniel wonder if he was going to get much of any work done today.

"Hey, I heard the news earlier," the colonel said.

"News? What news?"

"About how you went to the gym and made Teal'c look like a ninety-eight-pound weakling."

Daniel cursed the base grapevine under his breath.

"Would you like to explain how you did that?" Jack asked.

"I wasn't paying any attention to what I was doing. I didn't even notice how much weight was on the barbell."

"Not even when you added sixty more pounds?"

"No. My mind was on something else. The only thing I can figure out is that my abilities kicked in and . . . gave a helping hand. I'm certainly not that strong physically."

"Well, regardless, you've got the Marines in awe of you now," Jack told him. "The last I heard, they were arguing about who would win in a fight between you and Teal'c. Some figured that Teal'c's experience would win out, while others thought that your superior strength would give you the upper hand. Me personally, I think that, if you've found a way to use your abilities to increase your strength in a fight, Teal'c wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in hell. He may be a big son of a gun, but he weighs a _whole_ lot less than a Stargate."

"Which is why I can never get into a workout with him or anyone else again. I can't take the chance that I'll hurt someone."

"Daniel, you said that you were distracted, that you weren't paying attention to what you were doing. I bet that, if you were focused on the workout, it wouldn't happen, not unless you wanted it to."

"Nevertheless, I don't think it's worth the risk," Daniel stated firmly.

"Well, as your C.O., I need to remind you that you're required to pass various fitness exams each year, including proficiency in hand-to-hand combat."

"No, I'm not, Jack, and you know it. I'm a civilian. I'm not required to pass any fitness exams except the medical ones performed by Janet. I went through those other exams because it made you happy and kept you off my back. And I learned how to fight because . . . because it was a way to deal with Sha're and everything else."

Jack sighed loudly. "Yeah, okay, so you don't have to take them. But I don't want you losing your edge, Daniel. You never know when you may be forced to get into a fight with someone. Now, I bet that Teal'c would be willing to work out with you despite this thing that happened."

"Jack—"

Jack's finger shot up. "Ah! That's my final word on the matter, Daniel."

The archeologist closed his mouth. Then he thought of something. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Would you be willing to work out with me considering what happened?"

"Uh . . . sure."

A faint smirk twisted the corners of Daniel's lips. "You don't sound all that certain, Jack."

Jack cleared his throat. "Sure I'm sure. Just say when, Daniel."

"Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow. Say two o'clock?"

"Um . . . yeah, okay. Two it is."

"All right. See you then. And if you change your mind, let me know."

Jack glared at him. "I'm not going to change my mind, Daniel. You just prepare to get your ass kicked."

As Jack walked out of Daniel's office, the thought that ran through his mind was, _'I sure hope I've still got some Bengay in my locker.'_

* * *

Daniel bolted upright in bed, breathing heavily. He'd just had yet another dream about Sarah. It was as if his subconscious mind was replaying his entire relationship with her from the beginning. But something was wrong. Little things were different from the way it had really been, more than just his and Sarah's appearances. The portrayal of Sarah was off. In these dreams she was way too coy, and he sure didn't remember the real Sarah fawning over him quite so much.

And then there was something else, something that Daniel couldn't quite pin down. That sixth sense of his was talking to him, telling him that there was something going on, but Daniel didn't know what it was.

To top it all off, when he woke up just now, he could have sworn that there was someone in the room.

Though Daniel still felt exhausted, he decided to get up and do some things around the house for a while, then attempt to get some more sleep later. He just hoped that he wouldn't have any more dreams.

* * *

If, a few months ago, anybody had told Jack that he was going to be nervous about a hand-to-hand combat workout with Daniel, he'd have called them nuts. But then, several months ago, Daniel hadn't lifted a barbell that would give Teal'c a hernia. Jack kept telling himself over and over again that the archeologist had not physically lifted that much weight, that his telekinetic abilities had done most of the work. He also kept telling himself that Daniel would _not_ be using that ability in today's workout. In fact, that was the whole point of this exercise, to prove to Daniel that he didn't have to worry about accidentally using his abilities during a workout. But Jack was still nervous. He couldn't back out, though, for two reasons. Reason number one was his pride. Reason number two was that, if he did, it would show Daniel that he wasn't certain that the archeologist could maintain control, and that would do a number on Daniel's self-confidence. No, he had to go through with this. He just hoped that his own confidence in his friend's control would not prove to be misplaced.

Jack got to the gym about fifteen minutes before he was supposed to meet Daniel there. Teal'c was with him. There were a few people working out on the weights. Jack had decided that it would be best if nobody witnessed this workout just in case something went wrong. That was the reason for Teal'c being here. He would keep everyone out.

One by one, Jack asked the other men to leave. Though they were curious, they did so without question. The last man had just departed when Daniel came in. He looked around in surprise.

"Where is everybody?" he asked. "And why is Teal'c standing outside the door like a nightclub bouncer?"

"I figured that you might not want an audience for this," Jack explained.

"Oh." Daniel looked at Jack closely. "We don't have to do this, you know."

"I know."

Daniel gave a short nod. "So, um . . . are we going to do anything different?"

"Nope, same as always."

The two men got into position and began their workout. Three times Jack tried to get Daniel onto the mat, and three times the younger man dodged away from him. After the fourth try, Jack stopped.

"Daniel, you're running away."

Daniel cast his eyes to the floor. "I know. I'm just. . . ."

"Stop worrying, will you? It'll be fine. Now, come on. Let's do this right."

Daniel drew in a deep breath. "Okay." He assumed a combat-ready stance. Concentrate. He had to concentrate. As long as he stayed focused, paid attention, he would not lose control of his abilities.

That thought in mind, Daniel let everything else fade out of his awareness until there was nothing but him and Jack. This was not the first time that Daniel had focused his attention so utterly on something. He'd learned the trick many years ago and had used it more than once in his work, particularly when attempting to decipher some linguistic puzzle. Daniel knew that some athletes could do something similar, referring to it as being "in the zone," but this was the first time that he'd used the technique during a physical activity.

His mind focused entirely on Jack, Daniel waited for the man to make his move. It came an instant later. Three seconds after that, Jack was lying flat on his back after having been neatly flipped by Daniel. Surprised but unhurt, Jack held out his hand and let Daniel help him off the floor. Saying nothing, the men faced off again.

It was Daniel who attacked the second time. Before Jack even realized that he was vulnerable, Daniel had slipped under his guard and pulled him down to the mat, locking him into an unbreakable grip. Again, Jack said nothing as he rolled away and stood, though he knew that something was going on. Daniel had never taken him down two times in a row. Looking at Daniel's expression, he knew that the man was also aware that this was not normal.

The third time, Jack took the initiative first. He managed to get hold of Daniel and had him down on the mat. But, at the last second, before Jack could complete his move, Daniel somehow broke his hold, grasped his arm and flipped him over onto his stomach. Planting his knee in Jack's back and holding the older man's arm twisted up behind him, he wrapped his free hand around Jack's throat and applied just enough pressure to make Jack stop attempting to get free. Knowing that he was beat, Jack ceased struggling. Daniel instantly released him.

As Jack got up onto his knees, he looked at Daniel. There was an expression on the younger man's face that was part confusion, part fear.

"Daniel? What's going on?" Jack asked him.

"I, uh . . . I don't know."

"Well something is going on because you have _never_ taken me down three times in the same workout, much less three times in a row."

"Don't you think I know that?" Daniel exclaimed. He got to his feet and walked over to where his towel was. Jack followed him.

"Daniel?" the colonel softly inquired.

"I don't know what it is, Jack," Daniel said quietly.

"Could it be that sixth sense thing?"

"Maybe. I guess. I just somehow knew what to do every time. It's like I was . . . 'reading' your body, sensing your weaknesses, how you were vulnerable. That last time, I knew that in the position you were in, your balance was off, and if I moved just so, I could get you off me. After that, I just used some techniques that you'd taught me to take you down."

Jack stared at him closely. "Anything else, Daniel? Because I gotta tell ya. If I didn't know better, I'd swear that you knew almost every move I was going to make before I ma. . . . Wait a minute. I _don't_ know better, do I?" Daniel's silence answered him. "You were predicting what I was going to do before I did it, weren't you."

"Maybe a little, just . . . just a second before."

"Which would make it pretty darn near impossible for me or anyone else you were fighting to get the upper hand. You can't beat a guy who knows what you're going to do before you do it."

Daniel's head dropped. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry? What for? Daniel, this is fantastic. I'll never have to worry about you being able to handle yourself in a fight again."

Daniel shook his head. "I don't think it would be this way in a real fight. I was worried about accidentally using my telekinetic abilities, and I figured that if I was completely focused on you and the workout, it was less likely to happen. I zoned everything else out. I was so focused on you that I wasn't even aware of my surroundings. In a real fight, it wouldn't be that way. There would be distractions, other concerns."

Jack nodded. "Yes, you're right about that." He made a sudden decision. "I think I need to explain something to you, Daniel, probably something I should have told you a long time ago. Have you ever wondered why, after all these years of being trained by both me and Teal'c, you rarely ever managed to beat me?"

"Because you're better than I am."

"Yes and no. I have more experience than you, but the one thing that keeps you from being better at hand-to-hand is that you don't want to fight. You don't have the heart for it. You lack the . . . killer instinct."

Daniel stared at the towel gripped in his hands.

"You've always preferred the peaceful way out of situations, Daniel, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's saved our lives and the lives of others more than once. But your reluctance to fight hinders your effectiveness in hand-to-hand. Deep down, you really don't want to learn how to hurt and kill with your hands. That's contrary to who you are. And, until that changes, which, quite frankly, I hope never happens, you will continue to fight with less skill than what you would be capable of if you had a different attitude." Jack smiled a little. "Of course, that's not counting what you just did." He clapped Daniel on the back. "Come on. I don't think there's anything else we need to prove here today."

* * *

Entering the commissary, Sam saw Teal'c in line and decided to join him. And then she saw Daniel. He was sitting at one of the tables, his face hidden by his crossed arms, which were resting on the tabletop. Sam knew that Daniel was continuing to be plagued by his dreams of Sarah and wasn't getting much sleep because of it. When she saw him this morning as they both arrived at the mountain, he'd mentioned that, in his latest dream, Sarah had presented him with a tablet to translate.

Sam and Teal'c got their food and went over to the table. Sam sat down beside Daniel and gently rubbed his back.

"This makes no sense," he said, not lifting his head.

"Maybe you should eat something," Sam told him.

Daniel lifted his head and looked at her.

"Did I mention in the dream, the table was written in Ancient, and in the dream, I could read Ancient?"

"Well, that's not so odd considering you can also do that when you're awake."

Daniel stared at her, eyes narrowing. Though he uttered not a word aloud, Sam could almost hear him say, "That's not the point, Sam. The dream is supposed to be taking place in the past, when I _couldn't_ read Ancient."

"Perhaps you are attempting to reveal something to yourself," Teal'c suggested, understanding the significance of the discrepancy in the dream.

Daniel looked at him. "Like?"

Sam realized what the Jaffa was saying. "Like something from when you were ascended."

"Such as you prior vision of Bra'tac and Rya'c in danger," Teal'c said.

"The tablet sounds like it might be similar to the one you found when you were on Abydos."

"That was to lead to the Lost City of the Ancients."

"But didn't," Daniel reminded them. "You think that, somehow, I know the location of the Lost City, and I just don't remember?"

"If you have the dream again, perhaps you should translate the tablet," Teal'c recommended.

Daniel looked at Teal'c and Sam. He nodded his head faintly, rolled his eyes upward, and dropped his head back onto his arms.

_'Poor Daniel,'_ Sam thought. "Have you tried to put yourself into a deeper state of sleep with biofeedback?"

"No, I don't want to take the chance. Every time I've tried to do that, I ended up having a vision of some kind. I'd rather not tempt fate."

"Daniel, you can't keep on going like this. You need sleep."

The archeologist lifted his head again. "I know." He let out a sigh. "Okay, if it happens again tonight, I'll try biofeedback tomorrow."

* * *

Daniel dragged himself out of bed with a groan and stumbled to the bathroom. Another night of dreams. In this one, he had made a lot of progress with translating the tablet. It definitely had to do with the Lost City of the Ancients, which excited him greatly. The problem was that, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't complete the translation. His dream self had tried for hours, Sarah encouraging him patiently and faithfully. It was very frustrating.

Daniel took a very long, hot shower in an attempt to wake up. It helped only a little. Forty minutes later, after having consumed two cups of coffee and placing a third one in the cupholder of his car, Daniel pulled out of his driveway and headed for work.

Upon arriving at the base, Daniel went straight to his office, having picked up breakfast on the way. The day dragged on endlessly, mostly because he was so tired. Jack came into the office at one point and told him that he should go home and to bed, but the archeologist figured that, if he did, he'd probably just have more dreams. Instead, he planned on making himself so exhausted that he couldn't help but sleep deeply. He was intending to get in a strenuous workout at the gym tonight for that very purpose.

Daniel had promised Sam that he would try the biofeedback tonight. Between it and the exhaustion, he was sincerely hoping that his brain would finally decide to call it quits with the dreams.

* * *

Teal'c was in the gym when Daniel got there. There were also a few other guys there, every one of whom looked at the archeologist. Choosing to ignore them, Daniel started his workout, being very careful not to use his telekinetic abilities. He was actually pleased upon finding out that he really was no stronger physically than he had been before all this stuff started.

Teal'c was bench pressing when Daniel took a seat beside him and started doing some arm curls. After a moment, he began talking with the Jaffa about his dreams. This led to Teal'c doing an impersonation of Sigmund Freud, attempting to decipher the reason for the dreams, which resulted in the linguist feeling even more frustrated. After taking a shower, he went back to his office and worked for a couple of hours, then headed home.

It was way too late to eat, and Daniel wasn't hungry anyway, so he decided to go straight to bed. He was so tired that he thought for sure that he'd fall instantly into a deep sleep, but he'd thought the same thing yesterday. This time, he wasn't going to take the chance.

Though it had been a while since he used biofeedback, Daniel had no trouble quickly lowering his brainwave pattern down to a theta frequency. He then slowly lowered it further. At last he reached a low delta frequency. Instead of falling asleep, however, Daniel let himself float in a peaceful, trance-like state as the minutes ticked by, letting the balance of his mind and body be restored after all those days of little to no delta sleep.

Daniel did not know how long he was like that when he became aware of something. Even in this state of having no awareness of his surroundings, his sixth sense was telling him that he was no longer alone. Instinct took over.

Daniel's eyes snapped open, and, with a quick, fluid motion that would have made Jack proud, he rolled off the bed onto the floor and came up into a crouch. His eyes met those of the surprisingly familiar intruder.

"Well, good evening, Doctor Jackson," Osiris said with a smile. "What a shame that you had to wake up. I suppose this means that our time together is at an end."


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

Daniel slowly and cautiously rose to his feet, staring at Osiris. "You've been trying to access my memories of the Ancients," he said, now understanding everything. "You thought you could find out the location of the Lost City from me."

"Very good, Doctor Jackson. That is exactly what I was attempting to do. And I was so very close to succeeding."

"Now, I know that you can't be getting into my house by ordinary means, so I'm guessing that you're transporting yourself here somehow."

"Anubis once probed the mind of Thor and gained access to the Asgards' beaming technology."

"Ah. Okay, so why didn't you just grab me and probe _my_ mind?" Daniel realized the answer before Osiris could reply. "You can't, can you. The mind probe can't access my memories of the Ancients. Is it because they're in my subconscious or does it have to do with the way Oma blocked them?"

"It does not matter, not to you. It is a shame that I am going to have to kill you, Doctor Jackson. My host is quite fond of you and has many pleasant memories of your time as lovers. If there was time, it would be quite interesting to see how accurate her memories are of you and your . . . skills."

Anger arose in Daniel upon hearing the Goa'uld's words. It enraged him that the creature had raped Sarah's mind like that, stealing private memories that should have belonged only to Sarah and him.

His anger took a back seat as Osiris lifted her hand, the ribbon device beginning to glow. Not hesitating a second, Daniel mentally struck out at her. The Goa'uld went flying backwards and crashed into the wall, falling to the floor. Shaken, she got to her feet, both shock and wariness on her face.

"What manner of weapon do you use against me?" she asked, moving cautiously away from the wall and around to the end of the bed. She looked at him up and down. "I see no weapon on your body."

Daniel glanced down at himself. "You know, if I was Jack, I'd probably make a very crude remark right now," he said.

Osiris glared at him. "Do not toy with me, Doctor Jackson. If I so choose, I could crush you for your insolence."

"Do all of you Goa'uld read from the same script or something? You know, you really should come up with some new material."

Apparently deciding that she didn't like Daniel's attitude, Osiris tried yet again to blast him with the ribbon device. This time, she didn't even have the opportunity to activate it. The device was torn off her arm and went flying through the air to land in Daniel's outstretched hand. A second later, the Goa'uld was thrown back against the far wall and pinned against it, unable to move.

"What is this? What trickery do you use?" Osiris snarled, struggling against the unseen force that held her captive. "What alien power have you discovered?"

Daniel realized that there was no point in trying to hide the truth. Sooner or later, Osiris would figure it out anyway. "Well, if you were Nirrti, you'd probably call me a Hok'tar," he said as he walked up to her.

The Goa'uld's eyes narrowed. "An advanced human." Her expression turned calculating. "If this is true, you would be of great value to Anubis."

"Oh, I'm sure I would be, which is why I can't let you tell him. I should probably call someone to come get you since I really don't want to have to entertain you all night. So, if I let go of you, will you behave?" Osiris just stared at him, not answering. Daniel gave a little sigh. "Yeah, that's kind of what I figured."

The sudden sound of a car backfiring startled Daniel, momentarily breaking his concentration and his hold on Osiris. The Goa'uld instantly took advantage of the moment of freedom. Before Daniel could stop her, she touched the device on her left wrist. The familiar blue-white light of an Asgard beam enveloped her. Not stopping to think, Daniel grabbed onto her. An instant later, he found himself onboard a Goa'uld Al'Kesh. A second after that, his throat was seized in a crushing grip. He looked into Osiris' eyes and saw her intent to kill him.

The memory of what he did with the barbell came to Daniel's mind. With all his physical strength, he shoved the Goa'uld away, tapping into his telekinetic abilities at the same time. Osiris' grip on his throat was broken as she was hurled twenty feet across the room. She landed hard and slid across the floor another six or seven feet.

A sharp pain in his neck made Daniel reach his fingers up to it. They came back red with blood. He'd been scratched by Osiris' fingernails.

Seeing the Goa'uld get to her feet rather painfully, Daniel gave a silent apology to Sarah.

Osiris moved slowly to her right, Daniel watching her closely. He didn't want to attack again for fear that he'd serious hurt Sarah, but if the Goa'uld gave him no choice, he'd have to defend himself. He could not let her escape, not with the knowledge she now had about him.

"You are, indeed, quite powerful, Doctor Jackson," Osiris said, coming to a stop behind a control console. "Anubis will be very pleased."

Daniel's sixth sense warned him an instant before the Goa'uld pulled out a zat gun. At the same time that she pulled the trigger, Daniel struck at her again. But it was too late. He felt the blast hit him even as he saw the Goa'uld go flying backwards. He fell, losing his battle to remain conscious a second after hitting the floor.

* * *

Jack was awakened by the ringing of the phone. His eyes only half-open, he reached for it and put it up to his ear.

"This had better be good," he grumbled.

"Colonel O'Neill?"

The no-nonsense tone of the unfamiliar voice fully roused Jack. He sat up, hoping that he hadn't just ticked off some four-star. "Yes?"

"This is Detective MacGregor. You are listed as the emergency contact for Doctor Daniel Jackson."

"What's wrong? What's happened to Daniel?" Jack asked as he sat upright.

"I'm afraid that we don't know, sir. Neighbors reported a disturbance at Doctor Jackson's house. When police responded, they found signs of a struggle inside. Doctor Jackson is missing."

Crap. This was not good. "I'll be right over. I have some reason to believe that this might be connected to Doctor Jackson's work with the military. I will be contacting my superiors, and you can expect a team to be showing up there."

"Very well, Colonel. Just make sure that your people don't get in the way of the forensics team. He may be an employee of the military, but Doctor Jackson is still a civilian."

Jack hung up and quickly dressed. As he rushed out the door, he dialed General Hammond's house. When the general answered, Jack told him what was going on.

"Sir, I don't know what we're dealing with, but we need to make sure this gets turned over to us. If some cop gets too nosy, it's going to cause problems. And if any of them start taking a peek at those personal journals of Daniel's. . . ."

"There's no need to say anything more, Colonel. I'll make some calls right away."

"Thank you, sir. Oh, and could you be sure that Teal'c is told and is with the team that's sent over?"

"Consider it done."

Jack was already on the road when he disconnected the call. His next call was to Sam.

"Carter, something's happened to Daniel. He's missing, and there's evidence of a struggle at his place."

There was a soft gasp. "You mean somebody took him?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. Considering what Daniel can do, I find it hard to believe that anyone could managed to snatch him. I'm on my way over there now."

"I'll be there as soon as I can, sir."

The click and the following silence told him that Sam had hung up. Jack put his phone back in his pocket. A short while later, he was pulling up near Daniel's house. There were several cops in the yard and curious neighbors all over the place. Crime scene tape was all around the house.

Jack headed over to one of the uniformed cops. He showed his ID and asked to see Detective MacGregor or whomever was in charge. A couple of minutes later, a short, balding man in his fifties approached Jack. He held out his hand.

"Colonel O'Neill, I'm Detective MacGregor."

Jack shook the proffered hand. "Do you have anything yet?" he asked as he slipped under the tape.

"No, not yet. The forensics people are going over the place right now. We've interviewed the neighbors. No one saw anyone entering or leaving the house, even after the racket that caused them to call the police. A couple of people claimed that they saw a bright flash of light in the bedroom. The interesting thing is that all of the doors and windows are locked from the inside. There is no way that anyone could have gotten out."

Jack had stiffened the second that the detective mentioned a bright flash of light. Damn. Not that. _Please_ don't let it be that.

The sound of someone slamming on their brakes drew Jack's attention to the road. Sam's silver Volvo had just made a rather sudden stop across the street from Daniel's house. The major jumped out of her car and hurried over. A cop stopped her, and, for a brief instant, Jack thought that Sam was going to use her advanced level three hand-to-hand training on the hapless man to make him get out of her way. Instead, she showed her ID and pointed at Jack. The officer let her by.

"Sir, any news?" Sam asked, slightly out of breath. Considering how fast she got here, it was no wonder.

"I'll fill you in later, Major. Detective MacGregor, this is Major Carter. She works with Doctor Jackson."

The detective shook Sam's hand. "Do you know of anyone who might have reason to kidnap Doctor Jackson?" he asked.

Sam glanced at Jack. "He is privy to quite a bit of classified information. It's possible that someone took him to gain access to it."

"You mean like foreign spies?" the cop asked, doubt heavy in his voice.

"There is a chance that whomever took him is . . . foreign," Jack replied.

Sam looked at Jack sharply. He met her eyes, and a silent message passed between them. The worry on Sam's face increased tenfold.

Jack turned back to MacGregor. "Due to national security, we're going to have to take over this investigation."

"Oh, I don't think so, Colonel," the man responded unpleasantly. "Like I told you on the phone, Doctor Jackson is a civilian, which puts this under our jurisdiction."

"Not when matters of national security apply," Jack insisted.

"Well, unless I get a call from the president telling me to turn this over to you, this case stays with us."

Just then, Jack's phone rang. He talked with the person for a few seconds, then held the phone out to MacGregor. "It's for you."

"Who is it? The president?" the detective sneered.

"Nah, it's only the governor."

MacGregor lost his sneer. He took the phone.

"This is Detective MacGregor, sir. It's an honor to— Yes, sir, I am." There was a pause as the person on the other end spoke. "What? But sir, I don't understand." Another pause ensued, at the end of which, the detective was frowning severely. "Yes, sir. Goodbye, sir."

The cop handed the phone back to Jack with a sour expression. "He told me to turn the case over to you. You guys must have some connections pretty high up to have the governor calling people at this time of night." The man's eyes narrowed. "Exactly what does this Doctor Jackson do for the military anyway?"

"Now, Detective, you don't really want me to tell you that, do you?" Jack asked pleasantly. "I'd think that you would want to live to see your next birthday."

The expression that crossed MacGregor's face was both shock and nervousness. "You're not joking, are you."

"That's for me to know and for you to . . . _not_ know."

The man paused. "Fine. The case is yours."

"Good! Now, we're going to want all the evidence that your forensic people gathered."

"Right."

MacGregor called one of the uniformed cops over and told him to go into the house and tell the forensics team to stop what they were doing, pack up, and turn any evidence gathered over to Jack.

A few minutes later, several people came out carrying equipment. One of them came over and, after giving Jack a penetrating look, handed him some evidence bags, which Jack gave to Sam.

A while later, the cops had all left. A moment after that, a military SUV pulled up out front. Teal'c and SG-3 got out.

"O'Neill, what has happened to Daniel Jackson?" the Jaffa asked.

"We don't know yet, but I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that the Goa'uld are involved."

"How do you know, sir?" Sam asked.

Jack glanced about, seeing all the curious neighbors still hanging around. "Come on. Let's go inside. Colonel Reynolds, stay out here and secure the perimeter. Don't let any of those nosy neighbors get too nosy."

"Yes, sir."

Jack, Sam and Teal'c went inside. Everything looked fine in the house until they got to the bedroom. That's where the mess was. Several things that used to be hanging on the walls were now scattered all over the floor, some of them damaged or broken. A small table had been overturned, the items on it also littering the floor.

"Well, whatever happened here, somebody put up a good fight," Jack remarked.

"Sir, why do you think that the Goa'uld are involved?" Sam asked again.

"Some of the neighbors reported seeing a bright flash of light here in the bedroom."

"You're thinking a ribbon device?"

"Well, that or some kind of transportation device, like what the Asgard have. All the doors and windows were locked from the inside when the cops got here."

Sam's eyes widened. "Oh my God. Anubis!"

"What? What about Anubis?"

"He probed Thor's mind. It's very likely that he obtained information on the Asgards' beaming technology."

"Major Carter, Osiris is in the service of Anubis," Teal'c said.

"Yes, she is. Do you think that she was the one who took Daniel?"

"I was thinking of the dreams that Daniel Jackson has been experiencing."

"Dreams?" Jack repeated. "Daniel said something about having some dreams that were keeping him awake."

Sam nodded. "He's been having dreams about Sarah Gardner, about back when they knew each other in Chicago. The dreams were all wrong, though. In them, there was a tablet with Ancient written on it with information about the Lost City. Daniel was trying to translate it."

"I believe that the dreams may have been created by Osiris in an attempt to gain knowledge of the Lost City," Teal'c stated. "The Goa'uld possess the technology to explore a person's memory."

Sam nodded. "She could have been sneaking into Daniel's house at night and using some sort of modified memory device, attempting to get the information out of his subconscious."

Jack cursed under his breath. "Daniel probably woke up, there was a big fight between them, and she somehow managed to blast him with a ribbon device and knock him out."

Sam had a terrible thought. "Sir, if Daniel used his abilities against her, it would mean that she now knows about them. She would immediately see the advantages of having control of that kind of power, and the only way that she could have real control would be to—"

"No! Don't say it," Jack ordered sharply.

"You believe that Osiris may have taken Daniel Jackson as a host?" Teal'c asked.

"Ahhh! I said not to say that!" Jack exclaimed. "No way! That snake has _not_ taken over Daniel. I refuse to even _consider_ that."

The three members of SG-1 fell silent, all of them hoping that they'd get Daniel back, and that he would still be himself when they did.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

Daniel slowly regained consciousness. The ache in his body reminded him that he'd been zatted yet again. Getting to his feet, he looked about. He was in a cell. The opening was protected by a force field like the one that had kept Jonas a prisoner on Anubis' ship. Daniel wondered if there was some way that he'd be able to disable it.

At that moment, Daniel sensed the presence of a host and symbiote and turned to see Osiris coming up to the cell.

"Hello, Doctor Jackson. I hope you are feeling well. It would be a shame if I damaged that very valuable mind of yours."

"Oh, I'm just peachy," Daniel told her, not caring that he sounded like Jack.

"Good. I have to say that I am quite fascinated by this ability of yours. It is very impressive. Tell me. Do you possess other powers that I have yet to see?"

"Would you like me to show you? I'd be happy to give you a demonstration if you let me out of here."

"That will not be necessary. Very soon, I will know all about your powers. I had been intending to give you to Anubis, but I have decided that I will take you for myself instead. With you as my new host, I would be more powerful than any of the other Goa'uld. I will conquer them one by one until I control all."

"Um, well, I can think of a couple of flaws in your plan," Daniel said. "One is that, even with me as your host, you couldn't defeat Anubis. I'm not all-powerful. There are limits to my abilities, and I couldn't possibly do anything to harm someone who is half-ascended."

"I'm sure that I will find a way," Osiris said confidently.

"Well, the other flaw is me. There is no way that I'll let you take me as a host."

"You will not be able to stop me. I can easily render you unconscious. In that state, you will be powerless to prevent me from taking your body."

"I'll kill myself first."

"There is a sarcophagus aboard this vessel. I will merely revive you." Osiris took a step closer, smiling in triumph. "You are helpless to stop me, Doctor Jackson. You will be mine."

* * *

Sam sat in the briefing room, sick with worry. She was almost positive that Daniel had been taken captive by Osiris, and she had this horrible fear that, at this very moment, he was being made a host to the Goa'uld. If that happened, what were they going to do? A Goa'uld with Daniel's powers would be a deadly threat. If they ever encountered him, they'd have no choice but to kill him. They couldn't try to take him captive.

"Major Carter?"

Sam's head snapped up. "What?" She looked around at everyone. Jack, Teal'c and Hammond were all staring at her. "Oh, um, sorry, sir. What were you saying?"

The general gave her a kindly look. "I asked if you had any idea where Osiris might take Doctor Jackson. Teal'c believes that she will not turn him over to Anubis."

"Uh, no, probably not, not if she knows about Daniel's abilities. The Goa'uld are always looking for ways to make themselves more powerful and get the upper hand on other Goa'uld. She would most likely take Daniel as a host so that she could use his powers to defeat the others and take over their territories."

Teal'c nodded. "As I said a moment ago. Osiris would not be willing to part with such power, even if it means betraying Anubis."

"What are the chances that Osiris _doesn't_ know about Daniel's abilities?" Jack asked.

"Well, if she took him completely by surprise, I suppose that she could have knocked him out before he could react," Sam replied, "but if Daniel was in the bed, he wouldn't have been thrown against that wall by a ribbon device blast. It was pretty obvious that whoever hit that wall was airborne at the time."

"Couldn't she have surprised Daniel when he came walking in the room?" Jack knew that he was grasping at straws, but he just didn't want to believe that Daniel had been taken to be made into a host.

"Daniel Jackson can now sense a Goa'uld," Teal'c reminded him. "It is unlikely that he could have been taken by surprise if he was conscious."

Jack had forgotten about that. Daniel's sixth sense usually warned him if someone was nearby, unless he was extremely distracted, and he could now sense the dual presence of a host and symbiote. He'd have known about Osiris's presence immediately.

"I suppose it is possible that Osiris could have beamed down right in front of Daniel and knocked him out right away," Sam said, also searching for anything to give them hope.

Hammond nodded. "All right. The fact is that we have no way of knowing if Osiris is aware of Doctor Jackson's abilities or where she might have taken him."

Just then, Janet came into the briefing room. She had been off duty when Hammond called her but immediately came back to base when he told her about Daniel and asked her if there was someone on base who could examine some evidence gathered by the police forensics team.

"I have some news," she said. "Among the stuff gathered by the forensics team were several strands of long, curly blond hair, which were caught in one of the masks that were found on Daniel's floor.

"Oh, crap," Jack said, knowing that was not good news. They all knew who had long, curly blond hair, and the fact that the hair was found on something that used to be on Daniel's wall could mean only one thing.

"Daniel _did_ fight her," Sam said, speaking Jack's thoughts aloud, "which means that she knows."

Hammond looked at them all grimly. "I'm afraid that this leaves me no choice. All SG teams will be told that there is a strong chance that Doctor Jackson has been made a host. If any of them encounter him on a mission and it is confirmed that he has been taken over by a Goa'uld, they are to shoot to kill."

* * *

Daniel's heart was thudding in his chest. If Osiris knocked him out, she could easily take him over. He couldn't let that happen, no matter what he had to do to stop it. He knew that he could blow up the Al'Kesh, killing both himself and Osiris. It was not an option he wished to use, but, if he had no other choice, he wouldn't hesitate to do it. It's not like it would be the first time he gave his life to save others.

There was another possible choice, however. The idea of killing Sarah before his eyes sickened him, but if he had to choose between that and being made a host, there really was no choice to be made. Yes, he could put her in the sarcophagus afterwards, but the act of killing her would still forever haunt him. Once before, he'd made the decision to kill Sarah and Osiris, though it had torn him apart. Even more was at stake this time. No matter what, he had to prevent his psychic abilities from getting into the hands of the Goa'uld. Daniel knew that, physically, it would be so easy to do. He could do it right here and now. That force field would not stop him.

His stomach clenching, Daniel prepared himself to snuff out the life of a woman he had once cared for very deeply. But, before he could strike, Osiris unexpectedly smiled, turned and walked away. Daniel stood unmoving for several seconds, not quite believing that he'd been given a reprieve. Finally, he relaxed and set his mind to finding another way out of this situation.

Daniel's eyes cast about the prison cell, looking for something that he could use. Eventually, his gaze returned to the force field. There had to be a mechanism somewhere that controlled it. If he could destroy that, the force field would collapse. But what if he was being watched? The Goa'uld were not really big on anything like closed circuit cameras, so Osiris probably couldn't see him, but the ship could be equipped with sensors that tracked his precise location, meaning that, if he escaped from this cell, Osiris would know about it. Daniel didn't want to be zatted again. At least he did have the advantage that he could sense her presence, which would warn him if she was near. That might be enough.

Daniel knew that he might still have no choice but to kill Osiris and Sarah, but at least there was hope now that it wouldn't be necessary.

Daniel pressed his face against the wall near the doorway of the cell and attempted to see some kind of control panel for the force field, but it was useless. If there was one, it was beyond his sight. He stepped back. It might _not_ be beyond another kind of sight, however. Could he use the same ability that enabled him to find Sam when she was marooned on the Prometheus? Even if he could, would his telekinetic ability work on something he couldn't see with his eyes?

_'I guess I'll be finding out soon enough,'_ he said to himself.

Closing his eyes, Daniel went through the process he had used when he found Sam. Upon reaching the right brainwave frequency, he attempted to 'see' the mechanism that was controlling the force field. It proved to be a lot harder than it had been to see Sam, and, for a few minutes, Daniel thought he was going to fail. But then, all at once, he found it, or at least what he thought was it. There was only one way to find out if he was right.

Daniel focused his mind fully on the mechanism, willing it to explode. For a second or two, he didn't think it was going to work, then there was the sound of something exploding inside the wall. The force field instantly vanished.

Daniel cautiously stuck his head outside the cell and looked in both directions. If he was right about the sensors, the moment he stepped outside the cell, Osiris would know. He would have to be on guard, every sense alert, including his sixth sense. If she surprised him and zatted him again, she would most likely take him as a host immediately rather than taking the chance of him escaping again. But he would accomplish nothing by staying here. He had to gain control of the ship and get it back to Earth.

Senses on full alert, Daniel stepped out of the cell. He headed in the direction that he believed the bridge to be. He was almost there when he suddenly sensed Osiris' presence and realized that she was behind him. He dove to the floor an instant before hearing a zat gun discharged. The blast shot past him, missing by mere inches, close enough that he felt the energy.

Daniel rolled over and attacked. A fireball exploded into being and raced straight toward Osiris. She dove out of the way, and it struck a wall, leaving a huge scorch mark. Stunned by the unexpected form of attack, she aimed the zat at Daniel. She never had a chance to fire. The weapon burst into flames. With a cry, she dropped it, staring as it melted into an unrecognizable blob. She looked back up at Daniel and watched him slowly rise to his feet, blue eye piercing straight into her.

It was then that, for the first time in her life, Osiris felt true fear. Scrambling to her feet, she turned and ran, ducking around a corner.

Daniel watched her leave. His head was pounding. The fireball hadn't been bad since it was much smaller than the ones that he used against the enemy Jaffa. It was the added effort of melting the zat that gave him the headache. Like the staff weapon, it took a lot to reach the melting point. It might even be made from the same material. The headache wasn't too terribly bad, though, nothing compared to what he'd felt before a few times. Even so, he needed to take it easy, if at all possible. Unfortunately, he had a feeling that wasn't going to be an option.

Daniel took off after the Goa'uld. He'd seen fear on her face, something that he'd seen on the face of a Goa'uld only once before, when Apophis was dying after being tortured by Sokar. Either she was going to get another weapon or she was going to try to escape. Since they were in hyperspace, she wouldn't be able to launch an escape pod. Therefore, she'd have to drop the ship out of hyperspace first. Even as he had that thought, he felt the sudden deceleration. Knowing that he had to hurry, he dashed toward where the escape pods would be.

Daniel spied the figure of Osiris inside one of the pods just before the door slid completely closed. Acting quickly, he grabbed hold of the pod with his mind and held it in place. It wasn't easy. The launch mechanism was fighting to eject the pod from the ship. Daniel held on, feeling his headache worsening dramatically.

Realizing that it was the only thing he could do, Daniel began pulling on the pod, trying to rip it from its moorings. There was the sound of tortured metal, and the pod jerked violently. Trying harder, Daniel saw it jerk again. Then, all of a sudden, it tore free, and toppled to the floor. Daniel joined it on the floor a moment later, the pain in his head like a red-hot poker. He closed his eyes and tried to push past the agony, knowing that, if Osiris got out of the pod now, he wouldn't have the strength to fight her.

It took a couple of tries, but Daniel managed to get to his feet. He staggered over to where he hoped to find some weapons. He was relieved to see a zat gun, along with some other weapons and devices.

Sitting with his back against the wall, Daniel kept his eyes on the escape pod holding Osiris, the zat gun ready to be fired. When, after five minutes, the door still did not open, Daniel began to wonder if she'd been knocked unconscious. Then he heard some pounding coming from inside. It occurred to him that the systems on the pod may have been damaged. Osiris might not be able to get the door open. It was also very possible that the life-support system was inoperable, which would mean that she would run out of air pretty quickly.

Though his head still hurt horribly, Daniel knew that he had to get the door open. He couldn't let Sarah suffocate. He went up to the pod. Zat aimed at it, he concentrated on the door. Slowly, it began to slide open. Trying to ignore the fact that his headache was getting worse again, Daniel kept at it. At last, Osiris was visible. Her eyes met his, both fearful and defiant. Without hesitation, Daniel pulled the trigger on the zat. Osiris' body jerked spasmodically as it was hit.

Knowing that the zat would incapacitate the Goa'uld for only a few seconds, Daniel hauled her out of the pod and put her on the floor beside it.

"Daniel?" said a weak voice, Sarah's voice. He looked at her, remembering that a zat blast could enable the host to temporarily regain control of the body.

"Sarah?"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," she said, crying, both with pain and with shame.

"Shh. It's okay," Daniel said soothingly, stroking her cheek. "Everything will be fine."

"Don't let it take me again, Daniel. Please. I'd rather be dead."

"Sarah, you're going to be free soon. I promise."

There was no answer as Sarah's eyes flashed with the light of a Goa'uld presence. Daniel stumbled back and aimed the zat at the person who had become Osiris once again.

The Goa'uld sat up. She looked at the escape pod, then back at Daniel. "Your power it very great, Daniel," she purred. "You have become a god."

"Um, no. You see, unlike certain people I know, I don't have delusions of grandeur. I'm still just a man."

"If you and I were to join forces, we would be unstoppable. We could rule the galaxy."

Daniel couldn't help it. He started laughing at the absurdity of the Goa'uld's offer. Osiris glared at him.

"What makes you think that I'd _want_ to rule the galaxy?" he asked. "I'm perfectly happy being who and what I am, little, insignificant Daniel Jackson." He gave her a fake smile. "Well, maybe not _quite_ insignificant. After all, I beat you."

Osiris glared at him furiously. "You will pay for this. I will snuff out your puny life with my own hands."

"Puny life? Um, excuse me, but didn't you call me a god just a couple of minutes ago? That's an awfully fast demotion. You know, I could always put you back in the pod if you refuse to be nice."

"You would never do that. You value the life of my host too much."

"Oh, I'd leave the door open enough to let air in . . . barely. So, your choice. Tied up or put back in the nice, comfy, cozy escape pod?"

If looks could kill, he'd be a candidate for an autopsy table right now.

"I will allow you to bind me," Osiris said.

"Oh, thank you so very much. How generous of you."

Daniel got to his feet, trying very hard not to sway. He was still in a lot of pain, but he had to hide it. If Osiris perceived any weakness in him, she'd attack.

Waving the zat at her, Daniel told the Goa'uld to get to her feet and go back to the bridge. She did as he ordered. Once they were there, Daniel commanded Osiris to sit near the wall. Now, he had to figure out what he was going to use to tie her up. Goa'uld were very strong, so a piece of cloth wouldn't be enough.

Just then, Daniel's eyes fell upon something. It was a ribbon device. He picked it up and examined it. This might work. Glancing at Osiris to make sure she was going to stay put, Daniel laid the zat gun down and tested the strength of the metal. He found that he could not bend it with muscles alone. Good. Unfortunately, using this to bind Osiris would mean that he'd have to use his abilities again, something he _really_ didn't want to do right now. But, since he didn't have anything else he could use, he'd just have to deal with it.

With his mind, Daniel snapped the links that connected the portion of the device that fit on the user's hand to the part that wrapped around the wrist. Discarding the 'glove', he was left with a spiral of golden metal. He concentrated on it and slowly straightened it. Once he was done, he glanced at Osiris again. She was watching him in fascination, an expression almost like lust on her face. He knew that look was not sexual. She was lusting after his power.

Daniel walked up to her. "Turn and face the wall, and put you hands behind your back." Osiris did not obey. His eyes narrowing, Daniel said, "Now," his tone making it clear that he was not in the mood to put up with her attitude. His headache had gone back up a notch.

Shooting him another glare, Osiris did as he had ordered. Now would be the tricky part.

"Okay, I'm giving you a warning," Daniel said. "If you make any moves against me, I will snap your neck. And don't think that I won't do it. Yes, I hate the thought of killing Sarah, but I will do whatever I have to to keep from being made a Goa'uld, even if it means killing both of us by blowing up this ship. Oh, and in case you're wondering, I've already blown up one Al'Kesh. Another one won't be a problem. So, have I made myself clear?"

There was a pause before Osiris answered. "I will not attempt to fight you."

"Good."

Kneeling behind her and watching for any sudden moves, Daniel grabbed her wrists with his hands and, with his telekinetic ability, wrapped the band of gold around her lower arms, making it tight, but not so much so that it cut into the skin or hindered circulation.

Once he was finished, he got to his feet and backed away, telling Osiris that she could turn around.

"All right, let's see if we can get this ship back to Earth," he said. "I don't know about you, but I could really use a good night's sleep."

Daniel went to the navigation console and instructed the ship to return to Earth. Once that was done, he looked at Osiris. He really, really needed some sleep, but he didn't dare rest unless he was absolutely certain that she couldn't cause trouble. Perhaps temporarily putting her in the pod would be the best solution.

A few minutes later, Osiris was back in the pod, the door cracked open about half an inch to allow enough air to enter. He had been forced to suffer through a few curses and the usual Goa'uld stuff about punishing him for his insolence, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Daniel then went in search of the sleeping quarters. He found the 'master bedroom' pretty quickly. Looking at the huge, plush bed, he longed to throw himself upon it, but that's something he couldn't do.

He found the Goa'uld version of a bathroom, complete with hot and cold running water, where he cleaned away the blood on his neck and rinsed off the scratches. There were no first-aid supplies, of course, so that would have to wait until he got home.

Gathering an armload of bedding, Daniel carried it back to the bridge. He made up a bed on the floor, against the wall, then he laid down, zat gun within easy reach. Ten seconds later, he was asleep.

* * *

Jack, Sam and Teal'c were all in Daniel's office. None of them had gotten any more sleep last night. They were all too worried about their missing teammate, knowing that there was a very good chance that he was now no longer the man they all cared about so much.

"Sir, I don't know if I can continue being on SG-1," Sam said in a low, anguish-filled voice. "If we were ever on a mission and encountered Daniel, I don't know if I could. . . ."

Jack closed his eyes. He understood exactly what Sam was saying. How could he look into the face of his best friend and pull the trigger? How could he kill Daniel?

"I, too, would have great difficulty firing upon Daniel Jackson," Teal'c admitted.

Jack sighed. "Yeah." He met their gazes. "But Daniel wouldn't want to keep living as a Goa'uld. He'd want us to end it."

Sam felt tears sting her eyes, and she blinked them away. This was hurting so much, almost more than she could bear. "We can't give up hope. Maybe Osiris decided to wait before . . . before taking Daniel as a host. Or maybe he managed to get away or even overpower her."

"None of us are giving up hope yet, Carter, not as long as there is some chance that Daniel's okay."

"I heard that Hammond called the president."

Jack nodded. "He had to be told about the possibility that Daniel is now a Goa'uld."

"The Tok'ra will have to be told, too."

"Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter and Teal'c, come to the control room immediately."

The voice over the P.A. sent the three members of SG-1 running out of the office and heading down to the control room.

"What is it, sir?" Jack asked Hammond as soon as they arrived.

The general's face was serious, but there was also the tiniest glimmer of hope there. "We just received an audio transmission from Doctor Jackson."


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

"What?" Jack exclaimed upon hearing the news.

"He claims that he overpowered Osiris and gained control of the Al'Kesh they were onboard," Hammond explained. "He says that he's in orbit around Earth." He looked at all of them. "I don't think I have to tell you that I cannot trust that he really is Doctor Jackson."

"Yes, sir. I'd like to talk to him."

The general nodded and motioned for the technician to open the channel.

"Daniel? Is that you?" Jack asked.

"Hey, Jack. Yeah, it's me. Did you miss me?"

"You bet we did. So, would you like to explain what happened?"

"Well, it turns out that those dreams I was having weren't my own. Osiris was creating them in an attempt to get the location of the Lost City from me. She's been using Asgard beaming technology to get into my house every night after I'm asleep and then using a memory device to dig into my subconscious. Last night, she showed up again, only I wasn't really asleep. I'd used biofeedback to lower my brainwave pattern to a delta frequency. As soon as she showed up, I was aware of her. She tried to ribbon me, and I, uh, tossed her around a bit. But she managed to activate the control to beam herself out and, um. . . . Okay, I know you're not going to be happy about this next part, Jack, but please try to maintain some semblance of calm. I still have a headache, and the nap I took wasn't nearly enough. I've also been dealing with a very cranky Goa'uld for the past couple of hours. You know, there are some really interesting curse words in Goa'uld. I couldn't even translate some of them."

Jack grinned. That just _had_ to be Daniel. No Goa'uld could be that good at pretending to be him. "All right, Daniel, I won't get mad. What did you do?"

"I grabbed her before she could get away, but I got beamed up to the ship with her."

Jack opened his mouth to let out an exclamation but remembered his promise at the last second. "That wasn't especially bright, Daniel," he said instead, his tone excessively mild.

"Well, looking back on it now, I'd have to agree with you, but I couldn't let her get away, Jack. She knew about me. You know what would have happened if word of me reached Anubis or spread among the other Goa'uld."

Jack admitted to himself that Daniel did have a good point. "Okay, go on."

"We got into a bit of a fight, and I had the upper hand . . . until she zatted me."

Uh oh. "What happened next?"

"I woke up in a cell. Osiris told me that she had decided to take me for a host instead of giving me to Anubis. Fortunately, she didn't do it right then and there. She left me alone again. I broke out of the cell, had a little . . . scuffle with her, and, well, here I am."

"Sounds like quite an adventure."

"Yeah. Now, I just want to go home and sleep for a week."

"Um . . . yeah. That might be a problem."

"Why?"

"Well, you see, there's the question of whether or not you're still you."

There was a moment of silence. "Oh. Yeah, I should have thought of that. You can't be certain that Osiris didn't take me as a host."

"Is there any way that you can prove that you're really you?"

"How? If I'm a Goa'uld, I'd have access to all the memories of the host, so answering some question that only Daniel Jackson would know is useless." There was a pause. "Actually, maybe there _is_ a way. You guys can receive video from me, can't you?"

"Yes, our communications system has been set up to receive both audio and video transmissions from Goa'uld ships," Sam answered.

"Good. Okay, just let me figure out how to send a video transmission. I'll be right back."

A minute or so passed, then the image of Daniel appeared on the screen for incoming video transmissions.

"Um, hi. Can you guys see me?" he asked.

"Yes, Doctor Jackson. We can see you just fine," Hammond replied.

"Okay, hold on a sec."

Daniel walked out of view. Everybody heard a couple of people talking in the distance, then Daniel reappeared.

"All right, I think this should be proof enough that I'm not Osiris." He pulled someone else into view. Everyone looked with relief at the visage of Sarah Gardner.

"Tell them who you are," Daniel ordered her. When she didn't say anything, he gave her a little shake. "Remember. Be nice."

The woman's eyes glowed for a moment. "I am the god Osiris," she said with the voice of a Goa'uld, looking like she was ready to rip someone apart with her bare hands. None of them could ever remember seeing a Goa'uld looking so angry.

Jack grinned broadly. "Great to see ya, Osiris. Enjoying Daniel's company are you?"

"You will all pay for this insolence!" she snarled. "I will take great pleasure in killing you all slowly and destroying your pathetic planet. You will—"

Osiris' voice was cut off when Daniel abruptly gagged her. "Say goodbye now," he said, then marched her out of sight. He came back into view a few moments later. "Now you can see what I've had to put up with. It has not been a pleasant trip. At least she didn't keep saying, 'Are we there yet?' I really think I would have zatted her again."

Jack started laughing. So did Sam, and a few chuckles could be heard from Hammond, not to mention several others in the room.

"Hold on, Daniel." Jack motioned for the audio feed to be cut off, then turned to the general. "So, what do you say? It's obvious that he's not Osiris."

"Yes, but what are the chances that he was implanted with another Goa'uld?" Hammond asked.

"Osiris would not allow another Goa'uld to take Daniel Jackson as a host if it was possible for her to do so herself," Teal'c replied with conviction.

"And I don't think it's possible for Anubis to do so since he's half-ascended," Sam added.

"Come on, General," Jack pleaded. "We can't leave him sitting up there forever, and I sure can't think of a way to get an MRI up to that ship."

General Hammond thought about it for a few seconds, then nodded. "Very well. Tell Doctor Jackson that he can come home."

"Thank you, sir." Jack told the technician to reopen the channel. "Hey, Daniel. Come on home."

They all saw him relax, an expression of relief on his face. "Is it okay if I bring the Al'Kesh straight to the mountain? It's cloaked."

"Yes, that would be fine, Doctor Jackson," Hammond replied. "Please land it at the entrance on top. We will remove all of the vehicles there to make room."

"Okay. See you in a few."

The image of Daniel winked off. Hammond turned to an SF and told him to have the vehicles parked on the mountaintop moved. He then told another to send a large armed force up there just in case. He wasn't going to take any chances.

Jack, Sam, Teal'c and the general accompanied the armed men to the top. They'd only been there for a few minutes when the sound of an approaching ship alerted them to the fact that Daniel had arrived. There was a disturbance in the air, and the ship appeared right before them. A moment later, Daniel exited. He was wearing an athletic T-shirt, pajama bottoms . . . and was barefoot, quite an incongruous appearance for someone who had just single-handedly defeated a Goa'uld and captured an Al'Kesh. Speaking of the Goa'uld, she was beside him, her arm firmly in his grasp.

Looking around at all the weapons aimed directly at him, Daniel approached the group. "Hi, guys," he said.

Now that they were getting a better look at him, everyone could see the exhaustion on his face. He also looked pale, and there was a little blood on his shirt, probably from the scratches on his neck. His neck was also sporting some nasty bruises, as if someone had tried to strangle him.

Jack had zero doubt that Daniel was himself, and all he really wanted to do right now was hug the stuffing out of him, but he had to follow protocol. "Hey, Daniel," he greeted.

"Could somebody please take her?" Daniel asked, indicating Osiris. "She started to really get on my nerves about a hundred light-years ago."

Hammond motioned for two SFs to take the Goa'uld to the brig.

"Oh, and I'm probably going to have to remove those, um, cuffs."

Jack looked down and saw that Osiris' arms were bound with a band of gold metal. "What is that?"

"Well, it _was_ a ribbon device. I decided that was a much better use for it."

Jack nodded. "I agree."

As the Goa'uld was taken away, Hammond turned back to Daniel. "I'm sorry, Doctor Jackson, but until we can be absolutely certain that you have not been made a host, I will have to keep an armed guard on you. We will take you directly to the infirmary for an MRI."

Daniel nodded. "I understand, General."

A force of ten armed SFs went with SG-1 and Hammond to the infirmary. The SFs remained guarding Daniel as he was taken by Janet to the room where the MRI unit was. Remaining outside, the general and Daniel's teammates waited. Though it really wasn't all that long, it seemed like forever before Janet came back out. The SFs were with her.

"He's clear," she announced. "No sign of a Goa'uld."

The others visibly relaxed. Hammond dismissed the SFs.

"So, I should imagine that you're going to want to keep him overnight," Jack said.

"Yes, you're right about that," Janet confirmed, "though the first thing I need to do is get him off the MRI table." She smiled. "He fell asleep during the scan."

Sam smiled. "Poor Daniel. He must be so exhausted."

Janet nodded. "And, going by what I managed to drag out of him before he fell asleep, he used his abilities extensively. There is still a residual headache from it. The MRI didn't show any damage, but I will want to do a CT scan later. There are some things you can't see properly with an MRI."

Hammond nodded. "All right, Doctor. Get our boy situated in the infirmary. Let us know when he's awake. I should imagine that he has quite a tale to tell."

* * *

Daniel could not describe the relief he felt when he woke up to see that he was in the base infirmary. The sight of the person sitting beside him, however, was a hundred times better.

Sam smiled down at him. "Hi. I thought it only fair that I sit at your bedside since you did the same for me not all that long ago."

Daniel gave her a smile that showed his gratitude. "How long did I sleep? The last thing I remember was being put in the MRI."

"Believe it or not, Daniel, you just about slept around the clock."

Daniel's eyes grew wide in surprise. "I did?"

"Uh huh. Twenty-two and a half hours, to be exact. You were utterly exhausted. All those nights without getting any deep sleep coupled with having to use your abilities so much pushed your body over the edge. Janet was happy that you were getting so much rest. However, the colonel kept muttering something about a coma."

Daniel smiled. "Well, I definitely feel better." He remembered something. "What about Osiris?"

"She's still in the brig. The Tok'ra will be arriving tomorrow to remove the symbiote. Oh, and we managed to get off those homemade handcuffs of yours, though it wasn't easy."

Daniel's eyes drifted away. "I almost can't believe it. Sarah's going to be free."

Sam laid her hand over his. "Yes, she is, Daniel. You saved her. She'll have a rough time ahead of her, but I'm sure she'll be okay."

"She wanted to die," Daniel murmured.

"What?"

The archeologist met Sam's eyes. "When I zatted Osiris, Sarah surfaced for a few seconds. She said that she'd rather be dead than remain under Osiris' control. God, Sam. What it must have been like for her, and for Skaara and . . . and Sha're. I knew that I couldn't let that happen to me, that I'd have to kill Sarah if Osiris tried to take me. I was even going to blow up the Al'Kesh if I had no other choice."

Sam's grip on Daniel's hand tightened, upset at the thought of Daniel killing himself to avoid being made a host. "Well, it didn't happen. You beat Osiris." She smiled. "You must have really ticked her off. She was nearly foaming at the mouth."

"Well, I think I might have been channeling Jack for a while," Daniel admitted.

Sam nodded knowingly. "Ah, that explains it."

The two friends laughed, which brought Janet over.

"Why, hello, Daniel," she greeted. "How nice of you to finally join us. Are you feeling better?"

"Absolutely. I'm ready to get out of here."

"Sorry, but first I need to make sure you're really okay."

"Oh. Right. Daniel Jackson, July 8th, and I'm in the infirmary of the SGC, in Cheyenne Mountain, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. There. That answer all the questions? Or do you have some new ones?"

Janet smiled. "Oh, plenty of them."

Sam stepped away to allow the doctor to examine Daniel. Jack and Teal'c came in and walked up to her.

"So, is he finally awake?" Jack asked her, glancing over at the closed curtains around Daniel's bed.

"Yes, sir. He woke up a few minutes ago. Janet is examining him now."

"It's about time."

"He needed the sleep, Colonel. Janet said that she was surprised Daniel didn't collapse from exhaustion. She's giving him mega doses of vitamins because he has some pretty severe deficiencies. She wants him to take some time off, at least a full week, preferably two."

"I can imagine how he's going to react to that."

"Which is why she wants at least one of us to do the same. She figures that it'll be easier to get him to take the time off if someone takes it with him, maybe go with him somewhere. I couldn't take two weeks off, but I could probably manage one."

Jack nodded. "I'm sure I could take a few days off, and I bet that Teal'c here could, too."

"Indeed, O'Neill. There is nothing to prevent me from doing so," Teal'c responded.

"Good! The four of us can go somewhere together."

Janet finished with Daniel and told the rest of his team that they could visit with him.

"So, he's all right?" Jack asked the doctor.

"Yes, he's fine," she replied. "His luck is still holding out. Did Sam tell you what I said about Daniel taking some leave?"

"Yes, she did. You can count on us, Doc. We'll make sure he takes the time off."

"Well, good luck. I just told him, and, to say the least, he was not receptive to the idea."

Jack, Sam and Teal'c went over to Daniel.

"Hey there, Sleeping Beauty," the colonel said with a smile. "You going to stay conscious for a while?"

"I'll try," Daniel responded.

"So, I hear that you're going to be taking some time off."

"Not by choice. I have too much work to do to take time off right now."

"The work can wait, Daniel," Sam told him. "Your health is more important."

"I'm fine. As long as I don't get taken by any more Goa'uld, I can take it easy here at the SGC. Doing translations isn't strenuous."

"Except on your brain matter, which is one of the things you need to rest," Jack pointed out. "Come on, Daniel. The four of us can all go have some fun together."

The archeologist hesitated a moment, then nodded. "All right, but only a week. Not a day longer."

"Good enough."

* * *

Daniel's report on the events that resulted in his capture of Osiris left everyone shaking their heads in amazement. It greatly impressed the president, though he was also concerned by how close Daniel came to being made a host. He assured Hammond, however, that he would not reverse his decision to allow the archeologist to remain on SG-1. This newest incident had proven even more how valuable Daniel's abilities would be on missions.

A whole lot of people were also delighted about Daniel coming back with an Al'Kesh with Asgard beaming technology. There was a hitch that the command codes were all written in Ancient, meaning that Daniel would have to translate them, but it was still a major acquisition.

Much to the archeologist's dismay, he had apparently earned a new nickname on the base: Rambo Jackson. Jack explained that it was because of his one-man army act. How many other humans had bested a Goa'uld and captured an Al'Kesh all by themselves? Daniel thought that the colonel was having entirely too much fun over the whole thing.

Daniel was presently in his office, working on some translations that desperately needed doing. Janet had agreed to allow him to get the work done on condition that he go home at five o'clock on the dot and relaxed for the rest of the day. The fact that he had agreed to the vacation helped sway her as well.

The archeologist had to admit that a little time off would do him some good. He was feeling more than a bit frazzled, what with everything that had been happening in his life. That vacation, however, was going to have to wait a while. Tomorrow, she would be free and Osiris would be dead. Daniel knew that it would be a long time before Sarah was fully recovered from her ordeal, but he was determined to do all he could to help her. In fact, he was going to insist that his vacation be put on hold until after she was well on the road to recovery. There was no way that he was going to abandon her when she needed him.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

Daniel entered the brig, his teammates at his side. Osiris had asked to see him. Though he would rather have had nothing more to do with her, he was a little curious about what she wanted.

"Daniel Jackson. I am pleased that you have agreed to speak with me," the Goa'uld said.

"What do you want, Osiris?" Daniel asked.

She looked at the others with an expression of scorn. "What I have to say is to you alone."

"Too bad, because we're not going anywhere," Jack told her.

Daniel looked at him. "It's all right, Jack. She can't hurt me."

"Daniel."

"It'll be fine. I'll be out in a few minutes."

Jack hesitated before nodding. He, Sam and Teal'c then left. Daniel turned back to Osiris.

"Why do you allow those who are inferior command you?" the Goa'uld asked.

"I don't consider them to be inferior. They're human beings, just like I am, like Sarah is."

"Your powers make you superior. They are nothing, but you have the power of a god."

"Ah, now I'm back to being a god, huh?"

Osiris smiled. "Your power makes you great, Daniel. It could destroy the Goa'uld."

Daniel did not miss the fact that Osiris had called him by his first name. Already guessing that she was going to try to talk him into something, he remained silent.

"I know that is what you and your people want," she continued, "to see an end to the Goa'uld. I could help you. If you release me, we could work together to destroy the other System Lords. With my knowledge and your power, we would be unstoppable."

"And what would you get out of it?"

"I would only ask that, once Anubis is defeated, I be given the territories and armies he possesses. Such a small thing to ask." Osiris smiled again. "As a gesture of my good faith, I will even move to another host so that Sarah will be free. I know that is what you desire."

Daniel shook his head slightly. "Even if I was interested in your offer, Osiris, I know exactly what would happen if I took it. If we did actually manage to get rid of all the other System Lords, including Anubis, and you took over control of Anubis' armies and territories, sooner or later you'd target Earth. You wouldn't be able to stand having us around, and you'd know that, once we were gone, you could have everything, which is what you want. No Goa'uld can ever be satisfied unless they have it all. Not only that, you'd want revenge against me for beating you. So, no deal, Osiris. I'm not that stupid. Now, if this is the only reason why you wanted to see me, I'm just going to leave, because I have much better things to do."

Osiris' expression changed. "I will see you die, Doctor Jackson," she said, her voice now cold, hard and full of hatred. "I will see you suffer slowly and painfully."

Just then, two Tok'ra came in. Daniel met the Goa'uld's eyes one last time. "No, Osiris, you won't." Then he walked out of the room.

A few hours later, Daniel entered the infirmary. He went to the bed where Sarah lay. Sitting on the edge, he gazed down at her. She was free. Sarah was free. Though delighted, Daniel's joy was bittersweet. He was glad that he'd managed to do things right and make it possible for the Goa'uld to be removed from Sarah, but, at the same time, he couldn't help but think about how he failed to do the same for Sha're.

At that moment, Sarah awoke with a start.

"It's all right. You're safe." he told her soothingly, reaching out to touch her.

"Daniel?"

"I'm here," he said as she sat up. "It's all over." Their arms came around each. "You're free."

Sarah began to cry. "I'm so sorry."

"Shhh. It's not your fault.

"I couldn't stop it."

"We're gonna get you through this."

Daniel held onto her, stroking her back comfortingly. Now would come the hard part, trying to help Sarah recover from her ordeal and cope with what happened. He swore to himself that he would do whatever he could to get her through it.

* * *

Sam watched Daniel and Sarah from the doorway of the infirmary. She was happy for Daniel. She knew how much it meant to him that Sarah was free. Sam was also happy for Sarah. Though she had been an unwilling host to a Tok'ra for a while, Sam could still only imagine what Sarah had gone through as a host to a Goa'uld all this time.

Janet came up to Sam, her eyes on Sarah. "She's going to have a long, hard road ahead of her."

"Yes, I can imagine so. I remember what it was like to deal with having been taken as a host, and I was one for only a short while, and it was to a Tok'ra, not a Goa'uld. She's been a host for three years. Who knows how many awful things the symbiote made her do during that time."

"Daniel is determined to see her through it the whole way. He wants to postpone his vacation until after she's well enough to handle things on her own."

"But that could be weeks, even months."

Janet sighed. "I know."

Sam shook her head. "He's always doing that. He's always putting other people ahead of himself. Sometimes, I wish he wouldn't. He has gotten hurt so many times because of it."

"Yet he'll keep right on doing it."

"I know."

Sarah laid down and closed her eyes. After a moment, Daniel got up and came toward them, a frown on his face.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked him.

"Sarah told me that she thinks it would be best if she tried to get through this without my help," Daniel replied.

"Why?"

"Because I remind her so strongly of what happened to her. Whenever she sees me, she remembers what Osiris did to me, and that makes her think of everything else. I guess I can understand her feelings. Maybe it _would_ be best for her to get help from someone who has no connection to what happened to her."

The doctor nodded. "I think you may be right."

"Do me a favor though, Janet."

"What's that?"

"Don't have her talk to MacKenzie. She needs someone who cares."

"I couldn't agree more."

Daniel and Sam left the infirmary and went to his office.

"So, how are you doing?" Sam asked. "This whole thing can't be easy on you."

Daniel sat down. "Oh, I'm all right, glad it's over."

"Yeah, I bet. I'm really happy that you saved Sarah, Daniel. It must make you feel good."

Daniel nodded slightly. "Yes, it does, though. . . ."

"You can't help but think about Sha're," Sam guessed.

"Yeah." The archeologist gave a sigh. "But I can't live my life dwelling on all the 'if-onlys' anymore. I did that for a lot of years, and it just made me miserable."

"I know what you mean. I have a whole lot of 'if-onlys' in my life." Sam took a seat, deciding to talk about something happier. "So, have you had any thoughts on where we're all going on our vacation?"

"I haven't given it much thought. Jack will probably nix just about every idea I have."

As if speaking his name had conjured him up, Daniel at that moment felt Jack approaching. Teal'c was with him.

"Hey, kids," the colonel greeted as he and the Jaffa came in a moment later. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Actually, sir, we were talking about where we're all going to go on our vacation," Sam replied.

"That's a good question. Where _are_ we going?"

"I don't know, Jack," Daniel answered. "I guess we need to decide on a place that will make us all happy."

Jack shook his head. "No, this is for you, Daniel. You decide."

Daniel's eyebrows rose. "You mean you'll agree with whatever I decide?"

"Yep."

"I can pick anywhere?"

"Anywhere. Hammond said that we can even go off-world if we want to. He figures that the SGC owes you at least that much. Remember, though, that we only have a week, that is unless you've changed your mind about that."

"No, a week is long enough."

"Okay, so what's it gonna be? Where are we going to go?"

Daniel thought about it for a while. "Fishing," he finally replied.

The mouths of his teammates all fell open, even Teal'c's.

"Did you say . . . fishing?" Jack asked, hardly believing what he'd heard.

"Uh huh. Well, actually, I doubt that _I'd_ be doing much fishing, but _you_ can. Sam and I can go exploring, I'll have some artifacts to play with, and I'm sure that Teal'c will be able to find something to do, too."

"Daniel, where are you thinking of going?" Sam asked.

The archeologist smiled. "M4A-826"

Sam also got a smile. "Daniel, that's perfect!"

Confused, Jack looked at the two scientists. "What? What's perfect? Which planet is M4A-826"

"Remember the amusement park, sir?"

"The. . . ." Jack's eyes widened in remembrance. "You mean that place that was sitting right on the shore of that big, beautiful lake?"

Daniel nodded, smiling. "The lake with all the fish."

Jack's face split into a grin. "Daniel, I gotta hand it to you. I couldn't think of a better place to go."

And so it was that, two days later, SG-1 went to M4A-826. The planet was one of the addresses that Jack had input into the computer when he was carrying the knowledge of the Ancients in his mind, which meant that it was one the Goa'uld never visited. About a mile from the gate, there were some ruins that looked as if they had once been some kind of amusement park. SG-1 only had two days to explore the place last time, and Daniel always wanted to go back. So did Jack, but not because of the ruins. It was because of the lake beside which the ruins sat He'd wanted to fish that lake in the worst way, especially after he caught sight of the size fish it contained. Now, they were going to have a whole week there, and they weren't on a mission.

Upon arriving, the first thing SG-1 did was find a good place to set up camp. Because they were on vacation, they were not going to be living on MREs. Jack had brought a camp stove and lots of real food. He'd wanted to bring a BBQ grill along, too, but Hammond flat out refused to allow him to haul something like that through the gate. As it was, the general made noises about the four-man inflatable raft Jack had insisted on bringing, not to mention the lounge chairs, fishing gear, beer-filled cooler, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Because of all the camping equipment and everything else, it had been necessary to take a FRED along to carry it all. When Hammond started to complain, Jack just pointed at Daniel. The general took one look at the happy, excited glow on the archeologist's face and shut up.

The moment camp was set up, Jack was off fishing, claiming that he was going to catch their lunch. Sam, Daniel and Teal'c headed off to explore the ruins. When Teal'c chose to linger in the alien version of a fun house, Daniel and Sam moved on ahead. They discovered a maze and decided to split up and see who could find the end first.

After wandering around for about fifteen minutes and running into numerous dead ends, Daniel finally spotted the exit. He ran for it . . . and collided right into Sam, who had also been running to the same destination.

Laughing, the two friends argued good-naturedly over who had won, then, calling it a tie, they exited through the door.

* * *

Jack watched Daniel, Sam and Teal'c as they approached. They had just spent several hours in the ruins, and, apparently, they'd had a good time, or at least Daniel and Sam had. Big smiles were gracing the faces of the two scientists, and they were talking excitedly about something.

"So, did you catch anything?" Daniel asked as the three of them came up to Jack, a hint of doubt in his voice.

Jack grinned. "As a matter of fact. . . ." He opened up the cooler he'd brought to hold any fish he caught and showed his teammates the three beauties he'd managed to land.

"Wow. You actually caught some," Sam said.

Jack gave her a glare at the note of surprise in her voice. "Yes, Carter, I did, and, if you'll give me a bit more time, I'll catch another one so that we can each have one."

"I couldn't possibly eat a whole fish, Colonel."

"Don't worry about that. I'm sure that Teal'c will eat whatever you don't."

"That is if Teal'c likes it," Daniel said.

"Who wouldn't like freshly caught trout?" Jack looked at the fish, which bore no resemblance to trout or any other fish he'd ever seen. "Or whatever these are."

"Are we sure they'll be safe to eat?" Sam asked.

"Carter, there's no way that I'm not eating what I catch. If you don't want to take the chance, you can eat something else, though you'll really be missing out. I, for one, am looking forward to cooking these babies up."

Daniel's eyes were full of humor. "Proud of yourself, Jack?"

"O'Neill does, indeed, appear to be quite pleased with himself over his successful capture of these aquatic creatures," Teal'c stated.

"Hey, watch it or I'm going to make you two clean the fish," Jack groused. He then told all three of them to leave him be so that he could get back to his fishing.

Jack did manage to land another fish, and all four of them dined on the fruits of his labors for lunch.

The colonel patted his stomach contentedly, an expression of smug satisfaction on his face. "What did I tell ya? Pure ambrosia."

"Well, I wouldn't go _that_ far, Jack," Daniel responded, "but, yes, it was pretty good."

"Yes, it was," Sam agreed.

"Indeed," Teal'c added.

Jack's smile turned into a grin. "Great!" He stood and picked up his fishing rod. "I'd better get busy catching our dinner."

"Dinner? Jack, you don't expect us to eat fish for every meal, do you?" Daniel asked.

"Well, no, of course not. We'll eat other stuff for breakfast."

"Sir, as much as I enjoyed the fish, I really don't want to eat it twice a day for the next week," Sam told her C.O.

"Why not? You go on a fishing trip, you catch fish, you eat fish. That's the whole point."

"Did you not say that fish are not important in fishing?" Teal'c reminded him.

Daniel and Sam fought back smiles as Jack tried to figure out how to answer.

"Uh, well, yes, I did say that, and it is true," he finally replied, "but if you _do_ manage to catch fish, then you're supposed to eat them."

"Why don't you just catch and release, Jack," Daniel suggested. "Lots of fishermen do that." When Jack began to object, Daniel continued. "I'm with Sam. I don't want to eat fish twice a day every day we're here. We brought a whole bunch of other food with us. There's no point in letting it go to waste."

Jack heaved a big sigh. "Oh, all right. If you want to eat something else for dinner, go ahead. Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going to go catch _my_ dinner."

For the rest of the afternoon, as Jack fished, the others continued to explore the ruins. Sam stayed with Daniel as he went into full archeologist mode and tried to figure out the culture that had built the amusement park. She found herself fascinated by the way his mind worked to piece together all the information and clues he gathered and create a logical theory about who the people that had lived there were.

"The roots of the amusement park industry can be traced clear back to medieval Europe," he explained. "Places called pleasure gardens were built on the outskirts of many major European cities. They had live entertainment, games, dancing, fireworks and primitive amusement rides. They were extremely popular up until the 1700's, when a lot of them closed due to political unrest. Not all of them did, however. One is actually still in operation today, north of Copenhagen. It opened in 1583 and is the world's oldest operating amusement park. The thing is, though, that stuff like this," he waved his hand around at the huge rides, many of which looked similar to roller coasters, "didn't start coming into existence until the mid ninetieth century, although they had large ice slides in Russia as far back as the seventeenth century."

"So, what are you saying?" Sam asked.

"I find it hard to believe that the Goa'uld were still taking people from Earth in the mid-1800's, which means that this culture developed this kind of amusement park independently from Earth." He gestured at some faded writing on a sign. "I don't recognize this language at all. I have no clue to its origin. Considering that this was a gate address not included in the Abydos cartouche, it could mean that this was a completely alien society, though, judging by what we've seen, they must have been humanoid and around our size."

Sam nodded, agreeing with him. "Any idea why this place was abandoned?"

"Well, it wasn't attacked. There's no sign of damage anywhere. Judging by the condition of the ruins, I'd say that this place was abandoned around a hundred years ago. My best guess would be that they either simply left this area or that they left the planet. I do have another theory, though."

"What's that?"

"On the UAV footage, we saw several other large ruins, but none of them looked like cities, and there is absolutely no sign of any kind of habitations in the area, with the exception of those buildings that looked like they might have been hotels of some kind. That could only mean that nobody lived here, which would, in turn, mean that the people who came to the amusement park were transported from some other area. The closeness of this place to the Stargate makes me wonder if it was visited by people on other planets."

"Are you saying that you think this whole planet was like some kind of vacation spot, that no one actually lived here permanently?"

Daniel shrugged. "I don't know. I just know that it appears that there wasn't a community living within the area that the UAV covered. But, if this _was_ just some kind of . . . of pleasure planet, it may be that whoever developed it simply stopped coming here for some reason."

Sam looked around with new eyes. "Wow. A pleasure planet. And here I thought that the people of _Earth_ loved to have fun."

Daniel grinned. "Come on. Let's go see what else we can find."

With a matching grin, Sam took off with Daniel to continue their exploration.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

That evening, while everyone else ate cold fried chicken for dinner, the colonel dined on the fish that he caught, repeatedly remarking on how good it tasted.

"I'm glad you like the fish so much, Jack," Daniel said in amusement. "I, on the other hand, am looking forward to a nice juicy steak tomorrow night."

Jack sat up a little straighter. "Steak?"

"Uh huh. Four of the steaks we brought aren't frozen, so we'll have to eat them soon."

Jack made a dismissive noise. "You can have steak any old time. How often do you get the chance to eat freshly caught bass?"

"I thought they were like trout, sir," Sam said, also amused.

"Whatever. It's fish, caught today. It doesn't get any better than that."

Daniel and Sam shared a smile, then resumed eating their chicken.

The next day, the scientists decided to go for a hike. They invited Teal'c along, but he had been talked into trying his hand at fishing in a body of water that actually had fish. Leaving the Jaffa to suffer the colonel's obsession alone, Daniel and Sam filled their backpacks with what they thought they'd need and went hiking up into the nearby hills. As they hiked, Sam found herself wowed yet again by Daniel's vast storehouse of knowledge, only, this time, by his knowledge of geology.

"I didn't realize you were a geologist, too, Daniel," she remarked after he'd explained about the strata visible within the face of a rock wall they passed.

"I'm not really, but archeologists do need to know something about geology. It was one of my bachelor's degrees."

Sam smiled. "And how many bachelor's do you have, Doctor Jackson?"

"Um . . . a few."

Sam's smiled broadened. Daniel, in fact, had quite a number of bachelor's degrees to go along with his impressive collection of master's degrees and doctorates.

By the time they were heading back toward camp a few hours later, it was getting close to sunset.

"This was fun," Sam said.

"Yes, it was," Daniel agreed. "I guess the people who were here before recognized the value of having a good time. I honestly can't remember the last time I had a real vacation, one where I actually went out and did fun things."

"Me neither. How sad is that?"

"Pretty sad."

Sam smiled and turned to him. "So, what fun is planned for tomorrow?"

"Well, it was pretty warm today. If it still is tomorrow, I was thinking that we could go swimming."

Sam's eyes lit up. "Well, as it so happens, I brought my swimsuit."

Daniel's face split into a grin. "So did I."

Sam and Daniel continued their walk back to camp. The sun was just setting when they arrived. Wanting to see the sunset on the water, Sam went to the lake as Daniel got started fixing dinner, it being his turn to cook.

Jack presented him with three fish to cook, but Daniel shook his head. "Steak tonight, Jack. Remember?" he said.

Jack snorted. "I thought you guys might have changed your mind. You really don't know what you're missing."

"Yes, we do. We had fish the first day we were here," he glanced at the ones the colonel had caught, "and those look exactly the same as the ones we ate then."

"Fine," Jack said shortly. "Just fix one for me, then."

"Whatever you want, Jack."

And so it was that, as Jack yet again ate fish that evening, the rest of his teammates dined on steaks cooked over an open fire with onions and baby carrots. Jack kept glancing at their plates, the smell of the beef and onions making his mouth water.

"How's the fish, Jack?" Daniel inquired in a voice that sounded a tad more innocent than it should have.

"Delicious. Can't get enough of it," the colonel replied a bit too enthusiastically.

"That's good."

Jack glanced up and caught a smirk on the archeologist's face, also seeing one on Sam's features.

"Do you not grow tired of eating those creatures, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked.

The widening of the smiles that Daniel and Sam were trying to hide ticked Jack off. "Nope, not at all, T. In fact, I'll probably be having fish every night we're here. I'm taking advantage of the bounties of this planet, as all of you should."

"No offense, sir, but, though I do like fish on occasion, I'd rather take advantage of the bounties of the grocery store," Sam responded.

Daniel's snort of laughter resulted in a glare from Jack.

"You people just have no appreciation for the finer things in life," the grey-haired man grumbled.

About half a minute of silence had passed when Daniel suddenly said, "So, Jack, did I ever tell you that I went fishing in the Nile a couple of times?"

Jack stared at him, open-mouthed. "You . . . you fish?"

"Uh huh. Sometimes on digs, it made more sense for us to catch our own food than to pack it in from the nearest town or village."

"You fish?" Jack repeated.

"I remember there was this one time that a friend of mine talked me into going deep sea fishing with him in the Red Sea, and I accidentally caught a shark. Then there was that time on the Amazon—"

Jack waved his hands about. "Whoa, whoa! Okay, let me get this straight." He paused. "You fish?"

Daniel looked at him, then at his other teammates. "Didn't I just say that?"

"Indeed you did, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c replied. "In fact, it appears that you have more experience in fishing than O'Neill."

"Why the hell didn't you ever tell me this?" Jack wanted to know.

"Because, if I had, you'd never have left me alone, Jack," Daniel told him. "You would have wanted to drag me off fishing every time we had leave."

"Of _course_ I would. The Nile? The Red Sea? The _Amazon_? Damn."

"Yes, Jack, I've been fishing in all those places and more, but it's not my most favorite thing in the world to do. Most of the time, it was simply a way to feed myself and others on the dig. It's been at least ten years since the last time I picked up a fishing rod."

"We could go tomorrow," Jack said hopefully.

"Sorry, Jack. I've already got plans for tomorrow." Daniel paused upon seeing the disappointed look on his friend's face. "But there's always the next day."

Jack's face was transformed into a smile. "Sweet."

"I do not understand this fascination with fishing," Teal'c said.

"You didn't enjoy your experience today?" Sam asked.

"I did not."

"Oh, he's just sore because the only thing he caught was the size of a minnow," Jack stated. "I think he scared all the other fish away. They took one look at his frowning face and skedaddled."

Said frowning face frowned even deeper.

"I bet you'd like spear fishing, Teal'c," Daniel commented.

"You can do that, too?" Jack asked, amazed.

"I'm not talking about fishing underwater with a speargun, Jack. I'm talking about standing in a river with a spear in your hand and spearing the fish that swim by. And, no, I can't do that, though someone did try to teach me once."

"That does, indeed, sound most intriguing," Teal'c stated, thinking that it would take a great deal of skill to successfully catch fish in that manner.

"Well, maybe one of these days, you can try it."

"What about tomorrow?" Jack asked.

"I do not have a spear, O'Neill," Teal'c pointed out.

"We could make one. There are plenty of saplings around here. Just whack off the branches, sharpen the end to a point, and you've got yourself a spear."

"Actually, a lot of fishing spears have three prongs, but I suppose that would do," Daniel said.

Jack slapped Teal'c on the shoulder, grinning. "Okay, big guy. Tomorrow you get to go spear fishing."

Teal'c inclined his head, smiling faintly.

"You sure you won't join us, Daniel?" Jack asked.

"No, Sam and I are going swimming tomorrow."

"Oh. Well, okay, but you're not getting out of going fishing before we leave this planet, Daniel."

Daniel smiled in amusement. "Yes, Jack. Whatever you say."

The colonel looked at him for a few seconds, then, "I really like hearing you say that, Daniel. I suppose it would be too much to ask to hear it on missions, too." He read the expression on the archeologist's face and sighed. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Daniel's smile was joined by one from Sam and a tiny one from Teal'c as they returned to their meal.

* * *

The next day turned out to be even warmer than the day before, and both Sam and Daniel agreed that it was the perfect weather for swimming. They tried to convince Jack to join them, but he told them that he hadn't brought a swimsuit. Besides, he was looking forward to seeing Teal'c try his hand at spear-fishing. The Jaffa and the colonel had gone in search of a suitable sapling for the spear and found one that was almost perfectly straight. Once the branches had been trimmed off and the end whittled down to a sharp point, the two men went off to see who could catch more fish.

Daniel and Sam spent a good part of the afternoon in and out of the water, swimming, racing and frolicking like a couple of teenagers. Finally having enough of swimming, they laid out in the sun, soaking up the delicious warmth. After almost an hour of just lying there, Sam turned and looked at Daniel. The book he had been reading was beside him, along with his glasses. His eyes were closed, face turned up to the sun, wearing an expression of peace and contentment.

"This surprises me," Sam remarked.

Daniel looked at her. "What does?"

Sam turned onto her side and propped her head up on her hand. "You lying there, perfectly content to do absolutely nothing. You always struck me as the kind of guy who has a hard time doing nothing. You're always busy with something."

One of Daniel's eyebrows quirked upward. "Isn't that kind of a case of the pot calling the kettle black, Sam?"

The astrophysicist smiled. "Okay, so I'm sort of the same way, but I do appreciate the opportunity to slow down on occasion as long as I'm doing something I enjoy, like this. How many women don't love sunbathing?"

"Well, despite what you may think, I do sometimes do nothing, though I admit that it's not often." Daniel sat up and wrapped his arms loosely about his legs, his eyes on the lake. "Whenever I was out on a dig, I used to enjoy going off by myself and just sit and look at whatever natural or manmade wonder was in view. I remember one evening when I was on a dig in Egypt, I sat and watched the moon rise over the ruins, thinking about my parents and how my life had turned out." He faced her and gave her a smile. "So, you see? There are some things you don't know about me. I do have a few mysteries left."

Sam returned his smile. "I'm sure you do. So, I guess this is another way that we're alike. The colonel would probably fall over in shock if he knew that we really were capable of doing nothing."

Daniel chuckled. "Yes, he probably would. Of course, then, he'd insist that we both go with him to his cabin in Minnesota and spend a week doing absolutely nothing except fish an empty pond. As it is, I'll be lucky if I don't get dragged over there now that Jack knows I can fish."

Sam gave a laugh that was almost a giggle. "I have to say that I felt so sorry for Teal'c when I found out about that trip they took there. He must have been miserable."

"Yeah, well, he was having a better time than I was. I'll take fishing an empty pond over a round with a ribbon device any day."

"I would, too," Sam said.

Daniel's expression grew serious. "Thanks, Sam," he said quietly.

"For what?"

"For this, for being a friend. With everything that's been going on in my life lately, it's really good to know that I can still count on you, Jack and Teal'c."

Sam reached out and rubbed his back soothingly. "We'll always be here for you, Daniel. That's a promise."

Smiling at each other, they lay back down and let the warm sun and the tranquility of the area wash away the cares in their minds.

* * *

The next day, just as he had promised, Daniel went fishing with Jack. Much to the colonel's delight, the archeologist gave Sam a rudimentary fishing lesson, and she joined them. Even Teal'c agreed to again try fishing with a rod rather than a spear, though he'd had a great deal more success with the spear, his fast reflexes, infinite patience, and ability to remain absolutely still for hours making him a natural spear fisherman.

And so it was that the four friends lined up along the bank of the lake and went fishing. Sam was as excited as a little kid when she got her first bite and managed to land it all by herself with lots of shouted coaching from both Jack and Daniel. The three humans were all amused when Teal'c displayed his own version of Jaffa excitement as he landed his first real fish caught with a rod. Sam and Teal'c each caught one more fish before the day was out. Jack was pleased with the three he caught. Out of all of them, however, it was Daniel who really struck it rich, landing five beautiful specimens. The problem was that he released every one of them, much to Jack's dismay.

"We've already got enough fish, Jack," the archeologist told him after he'd released his final catch.

"But we could have stuck them in the freezer for later," the colonel complained.

Daniel looked at him, a tiny hint of a smile on his lips. "I'll tell you what. The next time we go fishing, I won't release the ones I catch."

Jack's face lit up. "Next time?"

"Uh huh."

Grinning broadly, Jack slapped Daniel on the back. "It's a deal."

"But remember, Jack. In order for me to catch fish, there has to _be_ fish to catch."

"Got it covered, Daniel. I know just the place," he paused, "that is unless you'd like to fish again while we're here."

"Jack, this is the fourth day in a row that you've spent fishing. Wouldn't you like to do something else?"

The colonel thought about that for a moment. "Nope, not really."

Daniel shook his head, not at all surprised by the answer. "Well, I came here mainly to check out these ruins, so that's what I intend to do tomorrow."

"To each his own, I guess."

* * *

The rest of SG-1's time on the planet was equally as enjoyable as the first four days, Sam and Daniel sometimes managing to drag Jack away from his fishing.

As the team exited the Stargate back on Earth, General Hammond came forward with a smile. "Welcome back, SG-1. I hope you enjoyed your leave."

Jack beamed. "You bet we did, General."

"Glad to hear it. Now, I know that this is the last thing you want to do after returning from vacation, but you will all need to report to the infirmary. You may not have been on a mission, but you _were_ on another planet."

"Understood, sir. Oh, by the way, we brought back some fish for you. That was one sweet lake, sir."

Hammond smiled. "Well, thank you, Colonel. I'm looking forward to hearing all about it. You know, I was quite the avid fisherman in my youth."

A smile started growing across Jack's face. "You were?"

"Yes, I was. I spent many an enjoyable hour on this little stream not far from where I grew up in Texas."

"Really. Say, sir. Have you ever been to Minnesota?"

* * *

The next day, a call came through from the Tok'ra. A moment later, Jacob arrived, an expression of concern on his face.

"We need to talk," he told Hammond and SG-1.

A short while later, they were all in the briefing room.

"We may have a problem," the Tok'ra said. "As you already know, word of Daniel's abilities have been spreading among the rebel Jaffa. It was really nothing big at first, though it was big enough to cause a stir. Well, all that changed when Daniel chose to play catch with a Stargate. The Jaffa at the Alpha Site found out about it and everything else, and it all got added to the stuff that was already being circulated."

Daniel looked down at the table uncomfortably. He was already well aware that the Jaffa knew all about the things he'd done. He had spent hours talking with them, trying to make them see that he was nothing more than a man.

"And?" Jack asked.

"And, as of now, we've officially got a major wildfire going. News of this new and immensely powerful ally of the Tau'ri and rebel Jaffa is growing by leaps and bounds, and it's igniting the spirit of the rebel Jaffa to new heights. The Tok'ra have never seen anything like it before." Jacob looked at all of them. "We had a major incident two days ago."

"What?" Daniel asked, almost afraid to find out.

"There was an uprising among the Jaffa in the service of Aker, a minor System Lord. He's dead."

Sam's mouth fell open. "His own Jaffa killed him?"

"They didn't just kill him, Sam. They tore him to pieces. There wasn't enough left of the symbiote to put in a teacup."

"My God," Daniel whispered, utterly stunned. "Why?"

"Aker had just mounted a battle against another System Lord," Jacob explained. "When things got too hot, he fled, leaving his Jaffa to die. Normally, the Jaffa would have accepted this as the will of their god, but things are changing since they heard about you. Not only are you being hailed as a godlike being, every Jaffa who has been told about you has also been told that you are a trusted friend to all Jaffa who rebel against the Goa'uld, that you treat them with absolute respect, value their lives greatly, and will courageously fight at their side no matter what the danger. That's something no Goa'uld can claim."

Daniel lowered his head into his hands. "Crap," he muttered, realizing that his attempts to minimize his image in the minds of the Jaffa had seriously backfired.

"When Aker ran like a coward with no regard for the lives of his Jaffa, it was the last straw for many of them. They killed him in your name," Jacob finished.

Daniel was starting to feel physically ill. This was not what he wanted. He didn't want Jaffa slaughtering Goa'uld in his name.

"Whoa, wait a second," Jack said. "In Daniel's name? You mean all the Jaffa know Daniel's identity?"

A chill passed through the archeologist and all of his teammates, as well as Hammond.

"Do they, Dad?" Sam asked in a scared voice.

"That's the one piece of good news I have," Jacob replied. "It seems that someone has given Daniel an alias. Very few Jaffa know his real name."

"Alias? What alias?" Daniel questioned.

"You're being called Dan'yar."

"Dan'yar, huh?" Jack mused. "Kind of has a nice ring to it."

"Well, that alias is probably the only thing saving him and the rest of you from a whole lot of trouble. Not surprisingly, all of the System Lords have found out about this mysterious Dan'yar and are trying to learn more about him."

"Crap." This time it was Jack who had spoken the curse.

"I agree. All we can hope is that they don't find out the truth. If they do, Daniel is going to be instantly catapulted to the top of the Goa'ulds' Most Wanted list."

Jack groaned. "Oh, this is _so_ not good."

"The biggest fear is that Anubis will find out. We can't get a Tok'ra operative close to him, so we're in the dark as to how much he knows, though there is no doubt that he's heard of Dan'yar."

"What are we going to do?" Sam asked.

"Nothing for now. The Tok'ra have placed as many spies as they can afford among the ranks of the most important System Lords and are keeping their ears to the ground. Hopefully, if someone does learn of Daniel's identity, we'll find out in time to get him to safety."

"Where in the hell would he be safe with every Goa'uld in the galaxy after him?" Jack wanted to know.

"That's a good question," Jacob admitted. "Perhaps with the Asgard or the Nox?"

"I'm not going to hide," Daniel stated.

"Daniel, you may have no choice," Sam told him.

Daniel's eyes met hers. "For how long, Sam? Until all the Goa'uld are defeated? That could take years. We might not even see that happen in our lifetimes. I can't just go disappear among the Asgard or the Nox for the rest of my life."

"Better that than being dead," Jack snapped. "Or, worse, being made a Goa'uld."

Dead silence fell over everyone.

"I'm also here about the weapon we've been developing," Jacob said after a moment. "We've got a working prototype, but it's only seventy percent effective at counteracting the reanimation technology."

"Seventy percent?" Sam repeated. "We have to be able to do better than that."

"I agree. Unfortunately, we're having trouble increasing its effectiveness. The truth is that this prototype should have been completed weeks ago. There have been a number of delays in its development, one of which is that I've got a lot fewer Tok'ra working with me on the project than I'm supposed to have because our numbers are spread thinner than ever due to this stuff with Daniel and the Jaffa."

"So, it's my fault," Daniel muttered.

Jacob looked at him with a fatherly expression. "No, Daniel. This isn't your fault. None of us could have anticipated that this was going to happen. You asked the Jaffa not to tell anyone about you, but it happened anyway. And, after that incident with the Stargate, I doubt that anyone could have stopped the word from spreading. It happened. Now, we just have to deal with it."

"Dad, maybe I can help with the prototype," Sam suggested. "Perhaps you just need a new pair of eyes looking at the thing."

Jacob smiled. "I'd welcome your help, Sam."

After leaving the briefing room, Sam got busy gathering what she thought she'd need. Two hours later, she entered the gate room, where her father was waiting for her.

"Got everything you need?" he asked, looking that the crate of things being loaded onto a FRED.

"Yes, I think so." Sam gave a small sigh.

Jacob noticed the expression on her face. "You okay, kiddo?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, Dad. I'm fine."

Jacob looked at her sympathetically. "I'm worried about Daniel, too, you know."

Not surprised that her dad had guessed the reason for her distress, Sam gave him a weak smile. "It'll be okay. Everything will be fine," she said, trying to convince herself of the truth of that statement.

Jacob gave her arm a squeeze. "Sure it will."

The rest of SG-1 came into the gate room to wish them goodbye.

"So, how long are you going to be gone, Carter?" the colonel asked.

"I don't know, sir," Sam replied. "There's no way to tell yet."

"Well, try not to make it too long. I'm beginning to forget what it's like to go on missions. We are SG-1, after all."

Sam smiled faintly. "I'll try to be as quick as I can, sir."

The Stargate activated, and everyone turned to it.

"We'll keep in touch," Jacob said. "As soon as we have a fully functional prototype, we're going to get busy manufacturing it. That's where the SGC is going to be a big help. You've got a lot more resources for that than the Tok'ra do."

"Don't worry, Jacob. We'll have those things cranking off the assembly line in no time," Jack said.

"Take care, Sam," Daniel said quietly.

"You too, Daniel," she responded. Then she turned and, along with her father, walked through the Stargate.

* * *

Anubis sat brooding on his throne. The more time that passed, the more he heard about this mysterious ally of the Tau'ri and the rapidly growing Jaffa rebellion. Since first hearing about the man, he had been attempting to learn more about this Dan'yar, turning most of his attention to it. The information he had managed to get was most disturbing. The power Dan'yar possessed was like that of an ascended being. Yet how could he be one of the Ascended? If one of them so blatantly defied the rules of the Ancients, they would be punished. They would not be permitted to continue.

Anubis had never quite understood the motivations of the Ancients and the reason for their insistence on not interfering in the affairs of mortals. Deep down inside he had wondered if they had some sort of ultimate plan. Now, Anubis was wondering if Dan'yar was part of that plan. Could he be one of the Ascended after all, perhaps even one of the Ancients themselves?

Anubis knew that, if the Ascended chose to actively work against the Goa'uld, that would be the end for all of them, including himself. Though they could not destroy him, they could defeat him.

There was, however, another possibility. This Dan'yar might simply be a mortal who had somehow developed extraordinary power. If that was the case, he must be eliminated. He was far too dangerous to be allowed to live.

Recently, another concern had come to Anubis' attention. There was a rumor that the Tau'ri and the Tok'ra were developing a weapon that could destroy his drones. This was an even bigger threat than Dan'yar, one that he must eliminate quickly.

Anubis' armies had just gained a major victory against the System Lord Olokun. There was a chance that there were some rebel Jaffa among those taken prisoner, or maybe even a Tok'ra operative. If so, they might be able to give him the information he needed about this new weapon . . . and perhaps about Dan'yar as well.

To be continued.


End file.
